2G 



institute as is now under consideration. There are many other 

 crops to be cultivated in these northern waters, that only await 

 the advent of the scientific labourer. Sponges of fine texture 

 and of commercial value, are now and again brought in by the 

 pearl-shell and beche-de-mer fishermen from the grounds they 

 frequent in pursuit of the special objects of their industry. Beds 

 of this organic product, of sufficient extent to constitute a prolific 

 fishery, would doubtless reward the investigation of experienced 

 hands. Here again, however, science would be in a position to 

 play an important role. By experiments independently conducted 

 m the Adriatic Sea and in the neighbourhood of the Florida reefs, 

 the possibility of scientific sponge culture has been ' amply 

 demonstrated. Unshapely sponges even, may be divided up into 

 small fragments, and planted over suitable areas, like cuttings in 

 a garden, each fragment in the ccnu-se of a year or two growing 

 into a symmetrical sponge. This fact is of itself redundant with 

 suggestions of what might, under scientific auspices, be accom- 

 plished on the Queensland coast line. 



In close alliance with the sponges, some attention may be 

 directed to the group of the corals. Although the red or precious 

 coral of commerce, Corallitim rubrifm, has not yet been dis- 

 covered in Australian waters, it does not necessarily follow that 

 it is non-existent. A closely allied, if not identical species, has 

 been obtained from the neighbourhood of Japan, and is also 

 imported into China from Singapore, Sumatra, and the Philippine 

 Islands. It is therefore reasonable to anticipate that this species 

 possesses a considerable range of distribution in the Pacific 

 Ocean. Even if not naturally existing, its artificial introduction 

 and establishment, on the Ansti-alian coast line, would by no 

 means be an impossible or even a very difficult task to accomplish. 

 This C(n'al mav be seen growing luxuriantly under artificial con- 

 ditions in the tanks of the Aquarium at the Xaples Zoological 

 Station, and it would only be a matter of mechanical detail to 

 construct portable tanks, with a circulating or oxyginating 

 arrangement for the water, combined with appliances for the 

 regulation of the temperature, to transport the living organism 



