732 Pearls and Pearl Fisheries. (July, 
places in the West Indies and Caribbean sea; Panama and the 
Gulf of California. 
The chief fishery of Ceylon has its headquarters at Kondachai, 
on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Manaar, between’ the Island 
of Ceylon and the southern extreme of India. It has been con- 
trolled by the government from prehistoric times. In some re- 
spects the fishery is carried on exactly as it was in the time of the 
Romans; in the manner of regulating it and the disposition of 
the right to fish, a variety of methods have obtained since the 
time it has been controlled by Great Britain. This has been 
partly due to the fact that the fisheries fluctuate greatly in their 
product notwithstanding the immense wealth which has been 
derived from them for centuries. Thus, from 1732-46, 1768-96, 
1820-28 and 1837-54, the fishery was either given up entirely or 
produced to the government less than the expenses of its regula- 
tion and inspection. On the other hand the revenue during the 
periods 1796-1809, 1814-20, 1828-37, 1855-60, was over five 
millions of dollars, and the value of the product not less than 
fifteen millions. In 1881 the government received a revenue of 
$300,000 from the fishery, the value of the pearls obtained being 
reported at one million dollars, exclusive of pearl shell. 
These fluctuations are due partly to depopulation of the beds 
by over fishing and partly to the fact that the mussels, though 
usually attached by a strong fibrous byssus, have, when of mod- 
erate size, the power of migrating from one locality to another, of 
which they avail themselves when: the turbidity of the water a 
other annoyance makes a locality distasteful to them.) Thus it e 
said that, owing to the filth discharged into the sea from the ship- 
ping and town of Tutikorin, on the Madras side of the straits 
the oysters appear to be permanently abandoning that vicinity. 
_ Two species of shells afford the pearls, the Avicula margaruy)” 
era Lam., sometimes called the “ true pearl-oyster,” and Melea- 
grina margaritifera Lam. The former is rarely larger than m 
palm of one’s hand, is wing-shaped, rather globose and quite thin, 
It has the most brilliant nacre and produces the finest pearls. 
The shell itself is so thin as to possess no value as mother-o© 
3 1C. f. Kelaart in Ceylon Calendar, 1858, Appendix; also Simmond’s “ Commer 
cial products of the Sea,” London, 1879, p. 414. This last mentioned work g 
tains the most thorough and valuable compendium of information relating ga 
pearls and pearl fisheries to be found in the English language, and has been 
quently drawn upon for the purposes of this article. 
