58 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Mexico, pearl fishing has long been a remunerative employment. 

 The principal fisheries on the Mexican coasts are carried on 

 between Mulege and Cape San Lucas. Near the Islas tres Marias 

 and in the neighbourhood of Acapulco the fisheries are not nearly 

 so important. The mollusks found are Meleagrina margaritifera 

 and Haliotis rufescens. 



The fisheries are carried on from July till October; during 

 the rest of the year storms and cold weather prevent fishing. 

 Diving suits are generally used. The mother-of-pearl from the 

 Gulf of California is white, with bluish-black or yellow bands. 

 The fisheries were carried on to such an excess that the size of 

 the shells decreased from year to year ; fishing is therefore now 

 permitted only every fourth year. The Calif ornian sbells are 

 sent almost exclusively to Hamburg, whence they go to England, 

 Austria, and France. The largest quantity goes to Paris, but a 

 great deal also to Frankfort-on-the-Main. The entire Californian 

 fisheries are said to produce from 600,000 to 700,000 pounds of 

 mother-of-pearl per annum. In 1879 Costa Rica exported 3540 

 pounds. In the same year Panama sent pearls to the value of 

 126,000 crowns (33,768 dols.) to the New York market. Guayaquil, 

 in 1871, exported thirteen to fourteen tons of mother-of-pearl. In 

 the Bahamas the snail fisheries form an important industry. The 

 pearls found in them are rose-coloured, yellow, or black ; the first 

 mentioned alone possess any value. The market for these pearls 

 is Nassau, in the Bahamas ; and it frequently happens that a pearl 

 fetches as much as 400 crowns (107 - 20 dols.). The average annual 

 yield is 180,000 crowns (48,240 dols.). In the State of Ohio pearl 

 fisheries are carried on in Little Miami River. The season lasts 

 from June till October. Men and boys wade in the river and 

 bring up the pearl-oysters with their feet. The shells are opened 

 with a knife ; and seldom are more than two pearls found in 

 300 Oysters. Pearl fisheries are also carried on in the rivers of 

 Norway, Bavaria, and Bohemia. 



[An account of the Pearl Fisheries of Australia, by Mr. G. W. Griffin, 

 U.S. Consul, Sydney, N.S.W., will be found in 'The Zoologist,' 1887, 

 pp. 289— 292.— Ed.] 



