728 OCEANOGRAPHY 



piles in the shallow sea in order to obtain a supply of the holothurians. 

 A village headman had thought it out from practical experiences. 

 Verily, there is nothing new under the sun." 



"Amanori" (Porphyra tenera Kjellman); "Funori" (Gloiopeltis 

 furcata Post and Ruprecht) : Although the present discussion is on 

 the cultivation of animals, I cannot help alluding at the end to the 

 cultivation of some seaweeds, as one of them, at least, is very import- 

 ant indeed. The "amanori," or " asakusanori, " is most extensively 

 cultivated in various parts of Japan. Of all places, however, the 

 system has reached greatest perfection at Shinagawa and Omori, 

 at the mouth of the Sumida River, which passes through Tokyo. 

 In the late autumn or in the winter can be seen here miles upon 

 miles of culture-areas in which tree-branches are set up as collectors. 

 During the cold season the alga keeps growing on them, and any 

 fair day one can see hundreds of little skiffs, mostly with women and 

 young girls, going out to collect it. Being brought home, the plant 

 is thoroughly cleansed and then made and dried in the shape of thin 

 rectangular sheets about twenty-five by eighteen centimeters, 

 looking very much like sheets of dark paper. In this state it can be 

 kept for a long time, and is sold in shops. When slightly roasted, 

 the sheets have a peculiar taste and are used much to give flavor 

 to various articles of diet. The production about Tokyo alone is over 

 1,000,000 yen, and for the whole country it must, of course, be much 

 more. 



"Funori" (Gloiopeltis) is used as the starch-yielding source in 

 the manufacture of various kinds of silk and cotton goods and in 

 washing, and is one of the most important articles produced by the 

 sea. Its cultivation is not so extensive as that of the amanori, but, 

 according to Mr. Endo, it is undertaken to some extent in the village 

 of Shimofuro, in the district of Shimokita, prefecture of Aomori, on 

 the south side of the strait between Hokkaido and Honshu. At that 

 place there is a large ledge of rock that is exposed at low tide. Here 

 people place 700 to 800 large blocks of stone, and the alga, which 

 grows between tide-marks, soon becomes attached to these. After 

 five or six years, when the blocks become too old and the alga no longer 

 grows on them, they are pushed into deeper parts, and new blocks 

 are placed in their stead. 



I think I have now given - - how imperfectly, I am but too well 

 aware - - a brief survey of the marine and fresh-water animals 

 cultivated in Japan. The subject has always been an attractive one 

 to me, as it might in many respects be called applied embryology. 

 Aside from its immediate economical results, there are many things 

 in it which might be utilized to solve problems in heredity, growth, 

 ecology, etc. 



