THE PEARL OYSTER OF CEYLON. 169 



Suggestions for the letter Preservation of Pearl Oysters. — Being convinced 

 from what I have seen, heard, and read on the subject of pearl banks, that 

 the method of fishing them from one end to the other, and only leaving 

 small patches, or detached masses behind, is not the most likely one of 

 keeping up the breed of oysters, or rather of encouraging the formation of 

 banks -worth fishing, or from whence even a moderate revenue could be 

 derived ; I have therefore advised Mr. Vane, the superintendent of the 

 pearl banks, to reserve a portion of the bank, say alone half a day's fishing, 

 for breeding purposes ; in fact, to do that as a rule which he, to use his own 

 words, " unwillingly" did last year. Owing to bad weather and other 

 causes, the fishing was brought to a conclusion sooner than intended, and, 

 consequently, a tolerably large part of the bank was left unfinished. 



As Mr. Vane and Capt. Higgs, the inspector, while agreeing to do what 

 I recommended, have thought proper to rl 1 ei r dissent from my 

 opinion on this subject, I shall briefly give, in writing, my reasons for 

 making this proposal, as I have already done verbally to the superintendent 

 and inspector, I regret to say, without convincing them. 



It is my opinion, and that also of abler men, that while oysters have no 

 sexual differences, the ovaria of some secrete a seminal fluid, and that this 

 fluid is the fertilising fluid ; or, to use a popular phrase, there are male 

 and female oysters ; and as I have found the former bear a very small 

 proportion to the latter, having frequently examined fifty oysters without 

 finding a single one with the seminal fluid, I believe, therefore, that the 

 chances of females reaching the influence of males, will be far greater in a 

 large portion of oysters than in small ones. 



Supposing even that fertilised ova are formed in small clusters of 

 oysters, such as those which Capt. Higgs and others allow to remain in the 

 banks after fishing for the season, these eggs, comparatively small in 

 number, are likely to be drifted about in various directions, their contiguity 

 destroyed, and they are likely to settle down in small numbers in various 

 parts of the sea ; but it may take many years, till the patience of Govern- 

 ment is exhausted, before, by the aggregation of small clusters, a large 

 bank be formed out of these small original elements. The contrary is 

 observed, when the ova proceed from a large area — the spawn is seen 

 floating in hundreds of yards, and wherever it settles large banks must be 

 formed ; and the history of the banks now being fished, and the one to be 

 fished next year, show that they were formed by large deposits of oyster 

 spawn, and not by the gradual introduction of small quantities. When the 

 condition of the small banks of Trincomalie is compared with that of the 

 larger banks of Arripo, the cause of the difference is very evident. 



There have been for years no deposits of spawn in large masses in these 

 waters ; and why ? Because for years these banks have been fished on 

 the old plan, a plan older than the period when Cleopatra obtained the 

 famous pearl, and under which plan and regime the banks of the Bed Sea, 



four or five years. It is therefore to be hoped that older beds will soon be dis- 

 covered. 



