prot rube ranees which prevented t,hem from having a circular shape. It is not known what 

 shape or size cuttings were planted, but growth seems to have been relatively slow, less 

 than an inch a year. 



Omership of the sponges is in doubt. The native Chief cl ainw them as his property, 

 but liilitary Government officers have ordered that none be harvested until notified. 



All of the sponges are of the same species. A small sample was supplied to Dr. Lewis 

 Radcliffe, Executive Secretary of The Sponge Institute, IrVashington, who sent one to Dr. 

 U. W. deLaubenfels for identification. Dr. deLaubenfels reported as follows: 



"The specimen is Spon^ia officinalis, subspecies mo llissima. knovm as Fine Levant or 

 Turkey Solid. One expects to find this exclusively in the eastern Mediterranean, and it 

 is absent or rare elsewhere in the world. Ihe specimen is one of the finest I have ever 

 seen. Its fibers are a little bit weak, perhaps as a result of chemical bleaching, but 

 in general it is worthy of enthusiasm." 



Additional specimens will be sent L>r. deLaubenfels for checking. The v;eak fibers 

 were not due to chemical bleaching, and it may be that this is due to differences in 

 Mediterranean and Central Pacific conditions. In any event, it is evident that sponge 

 culture has definite possibilities, and the sponges now at Ailinglapalap should be 

 used mainly as cuttings to extend planting to other suitable places. 



IV. PEATiL SHELIS 



A. DISTRIBUTION OF PEARL OYSTERS 



The black lip pearl oyster ( finctada margaratif'era ) is widely distributed through- 

 out the former mandated area. Specimens were tsJcen at Saipan, the Palaus, Ponape, 

 Kapingaraarangi, Nukuoro, and Likiep. They occur in abundance only in the Palaus. The 

 Japanese figures for 194-1 showed a production from the Palaus of approximately 2,500 

 tons, but an unknown percentage of these may have been taken in the Arafura Sea. It is 

 believed that limited commercial production would be possible at Truk and Ponape and it 

 would be well worthwhile to attempt increasing the abundance in a number of localities 

 such as Kusaie, Kapingamarangi, Ailinglapalap, Majuro, and Eniwetok. 



No specimens of the gold lip pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima ) were seen at any place 

 visited. Hov/ever, it is known that the Japanese brought in some of this species to 

 Palau for their experiments in pearl culture and it is quite likely that more thorough 

 investigation would reveal some in the near vicinity of Koror. 



Following the success of Mikimoto in commercializing the culture of pearls in 

 Japan, nximerous attempts were made to establish tills industry in the former mandated 

 area and also in the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. The main experiments were 

 carried on in the Palaus, where plantings were made as early as 1930 and at the time 

 the war began four companies were engaged there in pearl culture. There was also a 

 planting on a smaller scale at Ebon in the llarshall Islands. Ihe work at both of these 

 localities is described more in detail below. The actual number of pearls produced and 

 their quality, either in the Palaus or at Ebon, is unknown to us. For one thing, it 

 was nbt customary to ship the pearls back to Japan annually. They were exported when- 

 ever what they thought to be a sufficient number had been collected. Japanese statistics 

 show 17,783 pearls exported from the Palaus in 194.1. However, these could have been pro- 

 duced in previous years as well as 1941. 



72 



