Dec. 1. 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
PEARL OYSTERS AND PEARL 
FISHERIES : 
MEETING OF THE CEYLON BRANCH KOYAL 
ASIATIC feOCIETY ON OCTOBER 27. 
The meeting on Oct. 27tli at the Colombo Museum, 
was one of tlie most successful and interesting 
to the general public of those which have been held 
for a long time past by the Koyal Asiatic 
Society. The presidency of His Excellency the 
Governor added distinction to the occasion and 
assisted towards attracting a larger audience than 
even the great interest of the subject might have 
secured. The number present would doubtless have 
been increased hue for the heavy rain which was fall- 
ing sometime before the meeting began. His Excel- 
lency, in the speech of the evening, was in one of 
his inimitably happy moods, drawing together the 
threads of the discussion in dexterous fashion, 
llumiuating all with abundance of humour and 
adding just so much official encouragement as 
regards the development of our pearl fisheries as 
was generally to be desired. The discussion elicited 
by Mr. CoUett's excellent paper and Captain 
Donnan's practical remarks was valuable as well 
as full of interest- 
H.E. the Governor, Sir AVest Kidgeway, pre- 
sided, and was supported by the Bishop of Colombo, 
Mr Oliver Collett (the reader of the paper), Mr 
John Harward, Mr R Fonsonby, P.S. to the 
Governor, and Mr Gerard A Joseph ; while among 
tliose present were :— The Hon. H H Cameron and 
Mrs Cameron, Mrs Ceilett, Mr S M Burrows, Capt. 
J Donnan, Mrs and the Misses Donnan, Mr and Mrs 
Ferguson, the Misses Ferguson, Mr R H Ferguson, 
Mrs Collett, Mr S J 0 More and Mrs More, MLv 
A Haly and Miss Haly, Mr F Crosbie Roles, Mr 
(' Harward, the Rev. W R and Mrs Peacock, Mr 
and Mrs Frederick Lewis, Miss Halliley, Mr H J 
C Prior, Mr E E Green, Mr C M Fernando, Dr. 
W G VanDort, Miss VanDort, Mr H VanDort, 
Mr A F Mahn, Dr. W H de Silva, Mr W E 
de Silva, Mr P E Morgappah, and a number of 
others, 
After the minutes had been confirmed, the 
following new members were elected : — Messrs. 
J W Robertson, W.A.D., J Perera, and A F Mahu. 
His Excellency then introduced Mr. Collett, 
who proceeded to read his paper : — 
MR. COLLETT'S PAPER. 
The Pearl Oyster Question, which has always 
had a special interest for the Members of this 
Society, has of recent years becoms one of grow- 
ing general importance ; for, in proportion as 
diamonds are becoming more plentiful, the demand 
for pearls, asoruameats, is likely to increase. 
It might be said that there is little that is 
new to be discussed before this Society regard- 
ing pearl fisheries, seeing that the subject has 
already found able mention in two valuable con- 
tributions 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 em- 
ployed in conducting the various pearling in- 
dustries of the world chiefly ditt'er. 
I now propose, therefore, to lay these aspects 
of the matter before you, and at the same time 
* (1) Vane, "Pearl Fisheries o£ Ceylon," Joarnal, 
R.A.S. (C.B.), 1837, vol. X., No. 34 ; (2) A. M. 
Fergaaon, c.m.g^.. Address on the '' Jubilee Pearl 
Fishery " at the Ooaversaaiijag of the R.A.S, (C,B.), 
Nwomber 26, 1887, 
AGRICULTURIST, 
to endeavour to bring to a focus aU 
information that is up to the preser 
on the subject of pearl fisheries. 
And first let me remark, in regard to tnc 
term " fisheries," tliat 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 In- 
stitute* upon " Whales and Whale Fisheries,'" 
the late Sir William Flower, then Director of' 
the British Museum (Natural History), re-' 
marked : — 
"It happened to me a few years ago to reoeire a 
semi-official inquiry from, the Colonial Office as to 
whether a lobster was a fish, because an important 
point in the dispute between the French and English 
about the Newfoundland Fisheries depended upon the 
interpretation of an old treaty in wliich the word 
'fish' occurs. After giving the modern naturalist's 
definition of a fish, by which a lobster is clearly 
excluded from the class, of course, I found it necessary 
to remind my correspondents that in such a case the 
real answer to the question lay iu the sense in which 
the word was used at the time of the treaty, and by 
those who were parties in drawing it up, and if that 
could be ascertained it would be more to the point 
than the strictest of scientific definitions. Now on 
turning to what was in the beginning of the present 
century, our greatest authority on the meaning of 
words, I find in Johnson's Dictionary (1 now quote from 
Todd's edition, 1818) 'fish' defined as 'an animal 
that inhabits the water.' Without doubt this was the 
general and popular view, as the universally used 
expressions shell-fish lobster and oyster Jisheries, whale 
fisheries, and even seal fisheries abundantly testify. I 
tlierefore cannot say that in a certain vague and 
antiquated sense of the word, 'fish' may not be 
applied to the animals of which I propose to speak 
to you." 
The seeker after detailed information con- 
cerning pearl oysters does not find an abundance 
of material at his command. On the contrary, 
the literature dealing with these animals is ex- 
tremely poor and deficient. It is a remarkable 
fact that although countless references to pearls 
occur throughout history, and although the many 
published accounts of the pearling trade form 
quite a literature in themselves, there exists at 
the present time but one work in the English 
language devoted to pearls, their history, pecu- 
liarities, and various uses,t and no single work 
(so far as I am aware), in any language, which 
gives an account of the natural history, habits, 
and instincts of the animals by which pearls are 
produced. 
At the present time information upoa 
these points is only to be obtained 
by laboriously searching over the many 
scattered statistical reports issued from different) 
pearling stations. As a rule, these reports are 
drawn up for purely commercial purposes, or with 
the object of laying down rules and regulations 
for the conduct of the fisheries. Yet, here and 
there, valuable zoological observations occur, by 
means of which it is possible to form some idea of 
" Proc. Eoy. Col. Institute, 1895. 
t " Pearls and Pearling Life."— B. W. Streeter, 
London, 1886. 
Note.—" Gold, Gems, and Pearls in Ceylon and 
Southern India " — published by the Observer Press in 
1888 — contains much TEbluable information on the 
Ceyloa fisheries. 
