IXTRODUCTION. v 



revenue to the Colony. Wlien the banks revert to Government, it will be pathetic if those rough, ready, 

 and casual methods of inspection and control wliicli liave come down to us with the banks themselves, 

 are continued. 



4. — -General. 



The legacy left by the Company to Government consists of the information contained in tlie 

 various private reports sent in to them, of the four Marine Biological Reports, of a chart of the Cheval 

 Paar drawn up from a recent survey, and of a large new nautical and biological chart of the entire plateau 

 under lease, the latter having taken practically five j'ears to prepare. In addition to these, the positions 

 of various trigonometrical and other stations have been verified and the structures repaired. Beacons 

 have been erected on various reefs, and although these are not permanent structures, tliey will survive 

 for many years. Hatchery and nursery tanks are fitted up complete at Marichchukaddi. A survey 

 of Dutch Bay has been made and a chart pubUshed, and this information has conclusively shown the 

 unsuitabUity of this place as a seaboard nm'sery. The general experimental work carried on by the 

 Company at enormous expense has been of so extensive a nature, and so conclusive in its results, that 

 it need not be repeated. The faunistic and other specimens collected during five years, including 

 the tow net catches extending over four years, have been sent to the Government Museum, Colombo. 

 These are some of the benefits other than j)urely pecuniary ones which have been derived by Government 

 from the Company. 



I take the Uberty of referring here to the introduction of X-ray photography to oyster culture (?) 

 in Ceylon, as considerable misunderstanding exists on this point. 



Some years ago an X-ray plant was laid down by Mr. John I. Solomon in the vicinity of the pearl 

 banks. The object was to X-ray oysters, to separate those containing pearls, and to put these back 

 again into the sea for the pearls to grow. It is to be remembered that the Companj' only fish old 

 oysters. It would seem a far cheaper way (even if less dignified) to proceed in the usual way in the 

 determination of the pearl yield rather than to X-ray the oysters. If the oysters have pearls, they will 

 not grow appreciably bigger during the short span of life which remains to the oyster. If pearls are not 

 present, then these expensive operations are wasted. Even if young oysters are being dealt with, the 

 X-rays will not manufacture or initiate pearl formation, and thus the operations appear useless and 

 extravagant. When one considers that young oysters, when they do occur, are found in the quantity 

 of at least half a million per acre, and that the maximum that can be X-rayed per minute is about 

 sixty, the impossibility of the iiroceeding as a commercial undertaking is evident ; and even if the 

 oysters could all be X-rayed in one second, there seems to be no object in attempting it. 



In Japan an extensive and successful industry is carried on m pearl culture. Small leaden images 

 of the Buddha and other nuclei are inserted between the mantle and the shell, and these, setting u]) 

 local irritation, in course of time become partially covered with pearly matter. After they have grown 

 sufficiently large they are removed, and the basal part of this concretion (wliich has grown to the shell) 

 is carved out of the shell. These artificial pearls are always used for mounting, tlie basal face being 

 hidden in the moimt. 



Since probably not '01 per cent, of the larvaa inhabiting the tissues of the pearl oyster ever become 

 the nuclei of pearls, it would appear likely that future science will concentrate on so treating the oysters 

 that a large percentage of these larva? will form pearls, as it appears very probable that only such larvae 

 which for some unaccountable reason die in the tissues, and thus set up local y-ritation, form pearls. If 

 this is found possible in future years, pearl fishing will be revolutionized. 



Consequent on the entire absence of oysters on the Company's banks, numerous suggestions have 

 been received from time to time advising the stocking of the banks with oysters from elsewhere — Mergui. 

 Torres Straits, Persian Gulf, &c. Xeedless to add, all these suggestions have been passed by. It has 

 taken ten j^ears to collect what little we know of our own oyster. Apart from the expense and probable 

 impossibility of successfully transplanting these exotic oj'sters over long distances to our banks, we have 

 no reason to believe it would occupy a less time, if transplanting was successful, to acquire the knowledge 

 concerning them that we possess about the pearl oyster. Motlier-of-pearl oysters have totally different 



