NO. 51. — 1900.] PEARL FISHERIES. 



165 



PEARL OYSTERS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 



By 0. Collett, F.R.M.S., Corresponding Member of the 

 Malacological Society of London, &c. 



The Pearl Oyster Question, which has always had a special 

 interest for the Members of this Society, has of recent years 

 become one of growing general importance ; for, in propor- 

 tion as diamonds are becoming more plentiful, the demand 

 for pearls, as ornaments, is likely to increase. 



It might be said that there is little that is new to be dis- 

 cussed before this Society regarding pearl fisheries, seeing 

 that the subject has already found able mention in two 

 valuable contributions to our Journals.* But, hitherto, no 

 attempt has been made to treat the matter from a zoological 

 standpoint, or to go over the field of research systematically, 

 with a view to show in what special particulars the methods 

 employecl in conducting the various pearling industries of 

 the world chiefly differ. 



I now propose, therefore, to lay these aspects of the matter 

 before you, and at the same time to endeavour to bring to a 

 locus all the reliable information that is up to the present 

 obtainable on the subject of pearl fisheries. 



And first let me remark, in regard to the term " fisheries," 

 that its employment here is, in a strictly scientific sense,, 

 incorrect, since the animals by which pearls are produced 

 properly belong to the class Mollusca, and not to that of 

 Pisces. However, in this connection we chance to have the 

 opinion of an eminent zoological authority. 



Lecturing, in 1895, at the Royal Colonial Institutef upon 

 " Whales and Whale Fisheries," the late Sir William Fowler, 



* (1) Vane, "Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon," Journal, R.A.S. (C.B.), 1887, 

 vol. X., No. 34 ; (2) A.M. Ferguson, C.M.G., Address on the "Jubilee Pearl 

 Fishery" at the Conversazione of the R.A.S. (C.B.), November 26, 1887. 



■f Proc. Royal Colonial Institute, 1895. 



