THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 

 No. 2. FEBRUARY 1858. 



IX. — On the Natural History of the Cingalese Pearl Oyster and 

 on the Production of Pearls. Derived from Dr. Kelaart's 

 " Introductory Report on the Natural History of the Pearl 

 Oyster of Ceylon," and from "Die echten Perlen, ein Beitrag 



zur Geschichte derselben/' by Dr. Karl Mobius, 



Hamburgh, 1857. By W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. 



Without following Dr. Mobius through his long and interesting 

 account of the Pearl-fisheries and the commerce in pearls from the 

 earliest periods to the present time, we may take the fact that 

 the annual importation of pearls into France and England alone 

 averages in value between £40,000 and £50,000 as a convincing 

 proof of the importance of the traffic in these articles of luxury. 

 Moreover, when we consider that one of the principal existing 

 stations for this fishery is upon the coast of the British Island 

 of Ceylon, and that, in accordance with immemorial custom, the 

 Government of the island has a direct interest in the prosperity 

 of the fishery, which is still carried on in the same fashion as 

 that by which the celebrated pearl of Cleopatra was obtained 

 from the deep, — it will readily be admitted that it is a matter of 

 no small importance to the Government of Ceylon to ascertain 

 whether the pearl-oyster banks may not be rendered more pro- 

 ductive by a better system of management. Is it not possible 

 that these valuable Mollusks may be treated somewhat in the 

 same way as our so-called 'Native' Oysters, so as not only to pro- 

 tect them from injurious influences, but also to enable them to 

 be procured by a more economical process than that primitive 

 one of human divers, which still prevails wherever the pearl- 

 fishery exists ? To settle this important point, the Governor of 

 Ceylon commissioned Dr. Kelaart, in March last, to investigate 

 Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. i. 6 



