526 
MOLLUSCA. 
establislies the fact that the most skillful cannot exceed and rarely endure the submersion of 
a minute. 
" Alternately plunging and reposing, the divers continue their occupation until about ten 
o'clock in the forenoon, when the sea-breeze begins to blow, and one of the government vessels 
fires a gun, as a signal for the whole flotilla to return to shore. As soon as the boats reach the 
beach, an immense number of laborers, men, women, and children, rush to them and carry off 
the produce of the day's fishing. Every speculator has his own group of huts, and in the midst 
of each of these is a coutto, or space of ground inclosed with poles and transverse pieces of bam- 
boo, but open to the air. In these couttos are dej)osited the oysters as they are landed, and they 
are left to putrefy, which they soon do, under a burning sun. It is a curious fact, that though 
these numerous couttos, each containing an 
enormous mass of oysters, all putrefy to- 
gether on a narrow extent of soil, and emit 
the most detestable odors, yet the health 
of the precarious but crowded population 
gathered there, is no way affected. 
" As soon as the putrefaction is sufficiently 
advanced, the oysters are taken from the 
coutto and placed in troughs ; sea-water is 
then thrown over them. In their putrid 
state the oysters easily yield the pearls they 
contain, and a number of men, all standing 
on the same side of the trough, rapidly shake 
them out and wash them. After all the 
shells are thrown out, the pearls rem.ain on 
the sand at the bottom of the trough. . . . 
" During the prosecution of this fishery, 
few places can be more animated than the 
western point of Ceylon. The oysters, or 
the cleansed pearls, are bought or sold on 
the spot, and besides this trade, the conflu- 
ence of so many crowds from different coun- 
tries attracts dealers in all sorts of merchan- 
dise. The long line of huts is a continuous 
bazaar, and all is life and activity. !But, 
the fishery over, both natives and strangers 
depart, the huts are knocked down, scarcely 
a human habitation can be seen for miles, 
and the most dreary solitude prevails until 
the next year." 
The Hammer Oyster, Malleus vulgaris^ is a very curious species, the shell having the form of 
a hammer or pick-axe. The Perna isognomum has a somewhat similar form ; it lives in deep 
water, attached to rocks by its byssus. Another species, the Coxcomb Oyster, Ostrea crista-galli, 
is curious from the shape of its shell. These are all found in the East Indian seas. 
THE PERNA ISOGNOMUSI. 
THE PECTI^^IDJ^. 
These include the Scallops, genus Fecten, the shells of which are greatly admired on account 
of their beautiful forms and colors. They are abundant in some localities, and two species, F. maxi- 
mus and F. opercularis, are esteemed good eating and are largely consumed in Europe. Another 
species, St. James's Cockle, F. Jacobaius, having been adopted in the Middle Ages as the badge 
of St. James of Spain, became also the distinction of the pilgrims returning from the Holy Land. 
About sixty living species of scallop are known, and several are common on our coasts ; nearly 
as many fossil species have been identified. The F. Magellanicus, a large species, four to five 
♦ 
