136 PEARLS [CH. 



of a fishery resulted in a re-arrangement of terms 

 and the termmation of the lease in April 1912. 



Statements have been made that the company 

 followed absolutely the advice and recommendations 

 of the scientific advisers, but it seems quite doubtful 

 how far from a scientific point of view this was the 

 case. The recommendations were apparently not 

 carried out to anything like an adequate extent ; 

 and sufficient adult pearl oysters to form a breed- 

 ing reserve were not left at the end of the last 

 fishery. 



So far as I am aware, the points put forward by 

 Herdman in his report are not in the least disputed, 

 notwithstanding the years of observation since 1902. 

 Possibly the part played by voracious fishes in 

 devastating the oysters was underestimated, but 

 still Herdman recognised them as being one of the 

 most serious enemies of the pearl oyster. He laid 

 great emphasis also on the danger of overfishing 

 which seems to have been sometimes carried on. 

 There is absolutely no doubt that this commercial 

 failure is not attributable to biological science, and 

 Herdman himself did not advise the formation of the 

 company. 



It seems to the writer that the criticism that the 

 scientific advisers should have devoted more time to 

 the study of the mechanism of pearl formation is 

 quite unfair. What was required from them was a 



