238 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



That fishery is now in progress, Mr. Hornell is attending it, and 

 we hope that it may result not merely in a large revenue from pearls 

 but also in considerable additions to our scientific knowledge of the 

 oysters. 



As an incident of our work in Ceylon, it was found necessary to fit 

 up the scientific man's workshop — a small laboratory on the edge of 

 the sea, with experimental tanks, a circulation of sea-water and facili- 

 ties for microscopic and other work. For several reasons, as was 

 mentioned above, we chose Galle at the southern end of Ceylon, and 

 we have every reason to be satisfied with the choice. With its large 

 bay, its rich fauna and the sheltered collecting ground of the lagoon 

 within the coral reef, it is probably one of the best possible spots for 

 the naturalist's work in eastern tropical seas. 



In the interests of science it is to be hoped, then, that the marine 

 laboratory at Galle will soon be established on a permanent basis with 

 a suitable equipment. It ought, moreover, to be of sufficient size to 

 accommodate two or three additional zoologists, such as members of the 

 staff of the museum and of the medical college at Colombo, or scien- 

 tific visitors from Europe. The work of such men would help in the 

 investigation of the marine fauna and in the elucidation of practical 

 problems, and the laboratory would soon become a credit and an attrac- 

 tion to the colony. Such ■ an institution at Galle would be known 

 throughout the scientific world, and would be visited by many students 

 of science, and it might reasonably be hoped that in time it would per- 

 form for the marine biology and the fishing industries of Ceylon very 

 much the same important functions as those fulfilled by the celebrated 

 gardens and laboratory at Peradeniya for the botany and associated 

 economic problems of the land. 



