THE AB ALONE S OF CALIFORNIA 549 



pearls have been found with the remains of Indians. If only well 

 preserved, some of these pearls at present would be worth as much as 

 five hundred dollars. 



In many places where the abalone was formerly abundant, the large 

 individuals of legal size are taken and it may be true, as in the case of 

 the American lobster, that in this manner the most prolific breeders are 

 sacrificed. We do not yet know anything about the breeding habits 

 and embryology of any species of abalone, and hence are not certain as 

 to the best months for a closed season. In time, without doubt, we shall 

 be able to artificially propagate the abalone, as has been done with the 

 oysters, clams, lobsters and other useful animals. The government 

 breakwater, at the mouth of Los Angeles harbor, at San Pedro, has 

 become a natural breeding ground for black abalones which creep back 

 under the great stone blocks and thus escape the gatherers, who are 

 stripping every accessible niche and cranny along the coast at each 

 low tide during the open season. 



Eeservations have been established at Monterey Bay and Venice, 

 but the present laws are inadequate for their best development. By act 

 of the city trustees, the Venice breakwater has been made a biological 

 reservation under the control of the marine biological station of the 

 University of Southern California and guarded by a deputy of the 

 State Fish and Game Commission. As an aquacultural experiment I 

 have placed colonies of several hundred black abalones and seventy-five 

 of the green species upon the submerged rocks. A large concrete live- 

 box has been suspended by a block and tackle hoisting apparatus at 

 about the mid height of the tide. The open top is covered by heavy 

 galvanized iron meshwork, while through several holes in the botton 

 the dirt is cleaned out by the flow of the tide. The box is so heavy 

 that one may stand upon any part of it and do the necessary work in 

 feeding and observing the animals within. Forty abalones under ex- 

 perimentation and for growth records are kept in the live-box and a 

 group of two or three times that number might easily be maintained 

 in good condition. Xear Venice the ocean is shallow, for it is three 

 miles out to the sixteen-fathom line. The trawling of our motor-sloop, 

 the Anion Bolim, has demonstrated that in most places the fauna of 

 the sandy bottom is poor. Better results may be looked for when 

 reservations are located on the rocky coast, where great beds of kelp 

 thrive just within the deep-water line. The kelp is not only important 

 as food for abalones, but within its wide spreading fronds a world of 

 living things thrive. In such a region the plankton is richer and these 

 microscopic plants and animals generate food for the larger swimming 

 and bottom-dwelling forms. 



The establishment of laws for the regulation of aquaculture and the 

 concomitant protection of marine and fresh-water organisms is of 



