562 THE NORTHERN FORESTS. [Part IX. 



It appeared to me that the explanation of the phe- 

 nomenon was to be sought, not merely in external 

 causes, but also in the instincts and faculties of the 

 animals themselves ; and, on my r eturn to Colombo, 

 I ventured to renew a recommendation, which had been 

 made years before, that a scientific inspector should 

 be appointed to study the habits and the natural liistory 

 of the pearl-oyster, and that his investigations should 

 be facihtated by the means at the disposal of the Govern- 

 ment. 



Dr. Kelaart was appointed to this office, by Sir H. G. 

 Ward, in 1857, and already his researches have de- 

 veloped results of great interest. In opposition to the 

 received opinion that the pearl-oyster was incapable of 

 voluntary movement, and unable of itself to quit the 

 place to which it is originally attached \ he has demon- 

 strated, not only that it possesses locomotive powers, 

 but also that their exercise is indispensable to its 

 economy when obhged to search for food, or compelled 

 to escape fi^om local impurities. He has shown that, 

 for this purpose, it can sever its byssus, and reform 

 it at pleasure, so as to migrate and moor itself in 

 favourable situations.^ The estabhshment of this im- 

 portant fact may tend to solve the mystery of thek 

 occasional disappearances ; and if coupled with the 

 further discovery that it is susceptible of translation 

 from place to place, and even from salt to brackish 

 water, it seems reasonable to expect that beds may 

 be formed with advantage in positions suitable for 

 its growth and protection. Thus, hke the edible 

 oyster of our own shores, the pearl-oj^ster may be 

 brought within the domain of pisciculture, and banks 

 may be created in suitable places, just as the southern 

 shores of France are now being colonised with oysters, 



^ Stefart's Pearl Fishn-ies of I ^ See Dr. Kelaart's Ilepoi-t on 

 Cei/hti, p. 27 ; Cordiner's Ceylon, \ the Pearl Oyster in the Ceylon Ca- 

 i^-c, vol. li. p. 45. I lendar for 1858. — Appendix,^. 14. 



