122 Pearls. 



perfect in quality. The shell in which it was 

 found was only knee deep in water, and the Pearl 

 is probably the finest which the Australian fisheries 

 have hitherto produced. 



The following instances of the development of 

 blisters, will assist the reader in the study of the 

 growth of shell and Pearls. In 1883, a young shell 

 not one third the average weight and size, was 

 found with two blisters within. In each of these a 

 small stone was seen uncovered in part, and the 

 rest thinly covered over with a pearly film, the 

 stones being plainly discernible on all sides. 



In another shell a blister was found more than 

 one inch in height from the plane of the shell. 

 This blister was full of black mud, and the pearly 

 covering was not more than ^o^h part of an inch 

 in thickness. 



In 1882, on board the "Dawn," a small pro- 

 tuberance was noticed in a shell on the point of 

 the inside part of the hinge. A little of the outside 

 surface of the shell was scraped away, and the round 

 surface of a large shell was discovered ; the hinge 

 of the shell was then cracked with a hammer and 

 chisel, and eventually a very fine coloured and 

 fairly-shaped Pearl weighing 80 grains was extracted. 



In 1883, on board the same ship, another 



