18 
The question of caret (Hawksbill turtle) raising has 
received a blow from which it may not recover. A disease 
broke out suddenly in the parks of the Mahe Syndicate at 
Alphonse and St Francis and all the young carets numbering 
over 3000 were found dead in the parks at the same date 
separated from each other by a deep sea channel and the 
distance of over 6 miles. No investigation was made on the 
nature of the disease which the overseers on the spot state had 
gradually increased in virulence. In the park of Curieuse very 
little progress has been made and the matter is there still in 
the experimental stage. The carets at Alphonse were fed 
exclusively on fish, jelly fish and shell fish but from the con¬ 
tents of the stomachs of several carets which I have examined 
it seems that a very high percentage of the food consists of sea 
weeds. In one case as much as 98 o/o of the food was found to 
consist of common sargasso weed and in several others a 
species of Cymodocea (Cymodocea sp.) was the predominant 
element found in the stomachs of these animals. It is obvious 
that the question of carets raising should be put on a scientific 
basis and entrusted to persons having much time and knowledge 
to devote to such an important matter. Hitherto it has occu¬ 
pied the attention of two firms engaged in many other indus¬ 
tries which scarcely allow them enough time to engage in 
systematic experiments. I think these experiments are worth 
starting as at Alphonse no real difficulty was experienced 
before the carets were six years old and such a long time of 
successful raising goes far to show that the successful issue of 
the industry is far from being problematic. Those new Com¬ 
panies interested in whale fishing and fish curing by the nature 
of their enterprises may perhaps find better opportunity for 
carrying on the new industry. 
P. R. DUPONT, 
Curator, Botanic Station. 
28th February, 1914. 
