548 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
connection with the experiments initiated in the direction of the 
artificial cultivation of the pearl-shell, it was my desire to make 
myself acquainted with the reproductive phenomena of the 
species, and of which up to that time no accurate information was 
available. In none of the specimens dissected, or in the more 
numerous examples opened in my presence on the shelling- 
grounds, however, were the reproductive organs in a mature 
state of development. From this circumstance, I am disposed to 
conjecture that the principle spawning season of the mollusc 
occurs at a time of the year differing from that of my recent 
visit to the Torres Straits, and most probably during the hotter 
season of the north-west monsoon. As evidence in support of 
this conclusion, it may be stated that some few of the specimens 
examined immediately before my return to Brisbane were found 
on dissection to have their reproductive organs in a more 
advanced condition of development than those investigated at an 
earlier date. 
As a general result of the experiments and investigation so far 
conducted, added to the satisfactory intelligence recently received 
(December, 1889) concerning the condition of the pearl-shell that 
has been under cultivation at Thursday Island for over three 
months, the practicability of artificially transporting and culti- 
vating this valuable mollusc is, I consider, fully assured. Suitable 
facilities being granted, in the form of leases of fore-shores and 
water areas similar to those conceded for the purposes of ordinary” 
oyster culture, there is no reason, indeed, why all the available 
areas of the intertropical Australian coastline should not be 
utilised for the development of the newly-indicated branch of this 
pearl and pearl-shelling industry. The archipelago of islands in 
Torres Straits, with its numerous sheltered intervening channels, 
and including Thursday Island as a central station, no doubt 
offers the most favourable field for the prosecution of this 
industry. The neighbourhoods of Port Essington and Port 
Darwin, falling within the jurisdiction of South Australia, with 
which I am personally acquainted, are also eminently suited for 
pearl-shell cultivation. And the same may be said of the more 
sheltered areas of the north-western coastline of West Australia, 
a district which is already notable for its valuable pearl and 
pearl-shell fisheries. 
It may be argued, in conclusion, that a scientifically-conducted 
system of artificial cultivation offers, as is the case with ordinary 
oysters, the only sure remedy against the reckless practice of 
over-fishing, and which has, not only in Australian waters, but in 
other quarters of the globe, ruined what were formerly the most 
prolific fisheries almost beyond redemption. Should the series of 
experiments and investigation recorded in this paper lead to the 
inauguration of the more scientific and permanently profitable 
development of the Australian pearl and pearl-shell fisheries, 
herein suggested, the author’s object will have been accomplished. 
