X] PEARLS AND SCIENCE 125 



produce pearls in quantity and of good quality. 

 A prolific supply of shellfish does not necessarily 

 mean a handsome supply of pearls, and it has been 

 noted very often in the case of the common nuissel 

 that the molluscs from some beds produce far more 

 pearls than those from other areas. At the same 

 time, without the molluscs there will be no possibility 

 of pearls. Evidently then, the first care must be for 

 the beds of molluscs. 



Granted that shellfish of the right kind are 

 present in abundance, we might turn our attention 

 to artificial improvement of their powers of pearl- 

 production. As will be seen in the course of this 

 chapter it is still the cultivation of the pearl oyster 

 that requires the first aid from science, and cer- 

 tainly, so far as Ceylon is concerned, we must agree 

 with Herdman, who has regarded the condition and 

 the welfare of natural beds of oysters as a more 

 important problem than the question of pearl- 

 production. 



It must be confessed that so far science has not 

 proved a marked success in its application to pearl 

 industries. This, however, is not the fault of science, 

 but rather its misfortune, and the latter is no doubt 

 largely due to our treatment of biology, the science 

 concerned, in this country. 



Economic biology is of modern, very modern 

 growth, and it has had a severe fight in many places 



