STAR F1SU. 



CHAPTER LY. 



|HB OCEAN AS A FIELD— THE VARIOUS CROPS IT YIELDS— THE SPONGE — TRANSPLANT^ 

 ING SPONGES — CORAL FISHING — THE DI8COVERY OF THE NATURE OF CORAL — ITS RE 

 CEPTION BY NATURALISTS — OYSTER FISHERY— THE OYSTER A SOCIAL ANIMAL— THB 

 YOUNG OYSTER — OYSTER CULTURE — DREDGING FOR OYSTERS — THE AMERICAN OY8TEB 

 FISHERY— PEARL OYSTERS— PEARL FISHERIES— THEIR VALUE— SHARK FISHING — CUT 

 TLE FISHING. 



Though the ocean may appear to be a barren waste oi 

 water to the farmer, it has by no means this aspect to the 

 fisherman. To him it is the field in which he labors, and 

 the crops he gathers from it are as diversified in character, 

 and as important for satisfying the demands of the world, a3 

 those which the farmer raises. And further than this, the 

 labors of the fisherman have helped to increase our. knowledge 

 of the composition and character of the sea, of the habits of the 

 organized beings found in it, as the labors of the farmer have 

 done the same thing for the soil and the products which it bears. 



In considering the various fisheries of the ocean, naturally 

 that of the sponge, as one of the lowest forms of animal life, 

 comes first in order. Science is hardly yet decided in its 

 views concerning the organization and development of these 

 obscure and complex creatures, and despite the investigations, 

 of modern* naturalists, their position in the scale of animal 

 lite is still problematical, and their internal organization is still 



cnown only imperfectly. Dr. Bowerbank in his work on 



683 



