TIJE OKYLON PEAllL-OYSTEH. 263 



for 1008 *). In fact, he contends on p. 30 of Part V. of his Report, 

 and in his address to the Linnean Society on 24th May, 190(5, 

 that 



" to reverse the popidar saying, if we attend to tlie prosperity 

 of the bed as a wliole, the individual oysters may he left to 

 take care of themselves, both in regard to healtli and peni'l- 

 pi'oduction." 



In January 1904 Mr. Hornell was appointed Marine Biologist 

 to the (lovernment, to which post were subsequently added tlie 

 administrative duties of Inspector of Pearl- Banks. Wliile holding 

 these (iovernment ap})ointments Mr. Hornell continued to colla- 

 borate with Pi-of. Herdman, though it is clear that the executive 

 and administrative duties attached to his post interfered not a, 

 little with the more strictly scientific observations. Thus, in his 

 Report on the Inspection of the Ceylon Pearl-Banks, November 

 1905, Mr. Hornell says (23), p. 6 :— 



"The working out of this material must of necessity await 

 the long deferred time when a pause shall occur in the 

 field work in which I have been engaged for the past 

 eighteen months, and which permits me no leisure for the 

 correlation and marshalling of biological data." 



And, again, in Reports from the Ceylon Marine Biological 

 Laboratoiy, No. 1, p. 23, 1905, he says: — 



" The Marine Biologist shoiikl be given opportunity to 

 further investigate the life of the spherical Cestode so abun- 

 dant in the Pearl-Oyster, and which is the inducing agency 

 in the formation of ' cyst-pearls ' (' fine pearls '). The 

 problem is far from solution, and will entail much unpleasant 

 and trying labour before a satisfactory conclusion can be 

 hoped for." 



The observations of Prof. Herdman and Mr. Hornell on the 

 spot were corrected and correlated by laboratory work in Liverpool, 

 carried out by Prof. Herdman and his staff at the University, on 

 the material sent home for investigation. Prof. Herdman has 

 courteously allowed me to examine the slides made during these 

 investigations, showing sections of Pearls in situ in the tissues, 

 and of the Cestode larvje which he asociates with pearl-formation. 



In March 1900 the Ceylon Company of Pearl Fisliers, Ltd., was 

 formed and the pearl-fisheries were leased to the Company by the 

 Government, at a yearly I'cntal of Rs. 310,000, the lease carrying 

 the obligation to spend, in addition to the al)Ove I'ent, a sum of 

 from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 150,000 yearly "on the experimental or 



* Financial Times, Dec. 19,1908. Sir West Kidgeway, Chainnan of the Company, 

 on this occasion said that 



"with regard to biological research, Prof. Herdman was of opinion that in 

 the present condition of the Company's pearl-banks accurate navigation, 

 careful and exhaustive iiisjiection of the ground, and wise administration are 

 more important than the purely scientific side of the business." 



