264 



LOWER INVERTEBRATES. 



. Ceylon. The oriental pearl oyster is much larger than the American form, the average 

 diameter being, perhaps, nine inches, while specimens a foot across are not very rare. 

 The principal locality of the Ceylon fishery is on a bank about ten or twelve miles o£E 

 the north shore of the island. 



Each night, at about ten o'clock, during February, March and April, a fleet of 

 small vessels starts from Condatchy and Arippo, bound for the oyster banks, which are 

 about twenty miles long. Arrived on the ground, the fishing begins. Each boat has 

 a crew of twenty-three, ten of whom are divers, and these last are divided into two 

 gangs of five each, one lot resting while the others are below. The average depth of 



m '^' ^^^^^sh. 



-_= _^— —Zr~.=:m^r^LAkt^^, 



Fig. 276. —Meleaffrina margaratifera, pearl oyster. 



the bed is between nine and ten fathoms, and it nowhere exceeds thirteen. Each 

 diver has a rope weighted at the lower end by a stone weigliing about thirty pounds, 

 and just above this is a loop for the foot of the diver, while a large net-work basket 

 is fastened above. The diver, placing his foot in the loop, is rapidly lowered to the 

 bottom, and there, working ns fast as possible, he fills his basket with the oysters, and 

 then, giving the signal, he, together witli the weight and the basket of oysters, is 

 quickly hauled to the surface. Incredible tales are told of the length of time that 

 these divers can remain beneath the surface, but no well-authenticated case exists 

 where one remained longer than eighty seconds, and but few can remain longer than 

 a full minute. 



When the boat is filled (Mhich requires from fifteen to thirty thousand oysters) it 

 returns to the shore, and the cargo is placed in an earthen bin, with walls about two 



