18 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



rare forms have been procured under the skilled auspices of 

 Mr. Holt, Scientific Adviser to the Fisheries Department." * 



An artificial substitute — coraline — is used for cheap jewellery, 

 but the beads are too regular, smooth, and uniform in tint to 

 pass for the genuine article. 



A story is told by Simmonds of certain distinguished 

 foreigners who admired a string of large coral beads in a shop 

 in London, but expressed astonishment at the high price. Some 

 time after they visited the same shop and expressed indignation 

 at the imposition attempted to be practised on them, since they 

 had purchased a similar article for one- tenth of the price. They 

 were asked to put the two articles to test with a knife. The true 

 coral was uninjured, but the artificial composition splintered. 

 An appeal to a law court for redress of the fraud was the result. 



Ivory beads are also sometimes dyed to imitate coral (Sim- 

 monds). 



On the Pacific coast of Japan rocky coral banks of great 

 richness were known in the seas of Tosa long ago, and coral 

 was occasionally taken off the coast of Tsukinada in early times. 

 In the time of the Daimyos, however, the fishery or sale of coral 

 was prohibited lest the Daimyo of Tosa might be compelled to 

 hand it over to the Shogun. The grounds off Tosa are the 

 oldest in Japan, and include the Muroto, Tsukinada, and Kashi- 

 wajima grounds, and they range from 90-180 metres in depth, 

 and are often very rough. The second or Hizen ground is both 

 the most extensive and the most profitable, and it lies about 

 65 km. S.S.W. of the Goto Islands, and is from 55-180 metres 

 in depth, both rough and smooth ground being found. The third 

 area is the Satsuma ground, including the small banks to the 

 south of the Koshiki Islands, and was recently discovered. Prof. 

 Kishinouye describes seven species of Corallium from Japanese 

 waters : viz. C. japonicum, the most abundant, is known by 

 the name of " Aka-sango."t It comprises two-thirds of the 

 annual proceeds of the commercial fisheries in weight, or from 

 4000 to 10,000 kilos. The axis (skeleton) is dark red in 



* Vide Prof. Hickson, ' Nature,' vol. lxxiii. p. 5, 1905. 



f An allied species has been recently described by Prof. Hickson from 

 the coast of Timor (K. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, 1905). In this form the 

 sexual organs are carried by the siphonozoids. 



