23 



bi()l(it;ical observatniy as tliat of Thursday Island. Situated iu 

 Torres Straits, at a distance of twenty miles only from Cape 

 York Peninsula, with a climate far more temperate than that of 

 the mainland, and constituting a weekly or bi-weekly port of call 

 to various lines of mail steamers, it represents a perfect paradise 

 for the naturalist. As the central depot of the Torres Straits 

 pearl and pearlshell and the beche-de-mer fisheries, it takes the 

 leadiuij position in the colony witli regard to the value of its 

 fisheries exports, and which, with reference to the two items last 

 named alone, represent a collective annual value of close upon 

 £100.000. 



Through the acquirement of accurate knowledge concerning 

 the life histories and conditions of growth of these valuable 

 commercial products, coupled with the application of approved 

 methods of scientific culture, there is but little doubt that 

 their existing export value might be immensely enhanced, and 

 probably more than doubled. Experiments personally made, 

 duriuij; the limited durations of my visits to this district, have 

 established with absolute certainty that the mother-of-pearl shell, 

 3Ieleaifrinr( marffaritifera, can, notwithstanding previous local 

 assertions to the contrary, be successfully transported from the 

 outer Hshing grounds, and laid down and cultivated in inshore 

 waters. A number of shells thus experimented upon by me on 

 the occasion of a former visit, and deposited in a selected area on 

 the Thursday Island foreshore, had on my return, eight months 

 later, thriven beyond expectation, increasing in diameter to the 

 average extent of one inch. There were, moreover, no losses to 

 record, except in the case of a few specimens that had been 

 ignorantly appropriated and eaten by some of the Javenese 

 survivors from the "Quetta" wreck, who were temporarily lodged 

 at Thursday Island. 



The results obtained by these experiments, tht)ugh conducted 

 on a relatively small scale, are pregnant with practical sug- 

 gestions, and are capable of exerting a far-reaching influence. 

 They demonsti'ate the possibility of establishing extensive artificial 

 beds or reserves, and through their medium of re-stocking the 



