PEARL FISHERY : COINS.

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Sporting Trophies, including elephants, leopards, boars,
buffaloes, sambur, snakes, and birds of exquisite plumage.
A curious black leopard skin is shown by Maduanwala
Ratemahatmaya, a prominent Sinhalese Chief, and another
collection has been sent in by Mr. Lazarus, a local taxidermist,
 The swallow which makes the edible nest (Collocalia
francica) is well known in Ceylon, whence there is a small
axport of the nests to China; the bird and its nest may be seen
prettily mounted.
The Fishing industry is fully discussed in Chapter VII,
by Mr. Hornell, the Government Marine Biologist, under
whose superintendence the exhibit has been prepared, and
who has also furnished photographs. The various kinds of
boats and nets in use are illustrated by models, while a fullsized
 outrigger canoe may be seen plying in the water by
the side of the Court in the charge of a Sinhalese fisherman.
The exhibit of the fascinating Pearl Fishery should attract
attention : the precious oyster is shown in all stages of its
growth, with dissections showing the pearls in sifu. Here
may be seen the Trigger fish (Balistes spp.), which. preys on
the oyster and also harbours the pearl-inducing parasite, an
sxcellent model of a pearl-fishing boat, the diver’s stone,
basket, and nose clip, the brass sieves used in sizing the
pearls, the crude drill with which the pearl is so exquisitely
bored, &amp;c. A series of photographs illustrates the whole
aistory of a fishery.
The ugly Beche-de-mer (Holothuride) beloved of the
Chinese, with the various spearlike implements used in its
fishing, native-cured Sponges from Trincomalee, the translucent
 shell of the “window pane’ oyster, the ingenious
fish traps of the Sinhalese and Tamil villagers—unchanged
in design and make for centuries—will all be received with
interest, especially so the two abnormal silver-mounted
Chanks—Ileft-handed says the Scientist, right-handed says
the Oriental—so sacred to the Hindu.
Coins have been struck in Ceylon by the Sinhalese, Portuguese,
 Dutch,and English authorities in turn, and in addition
to the issue of their mints a great variety of foreign coins
have been in circulation from time to time. Perhaps the
oldest in point of date are the oblong copper kahapana, of
[ndian origin, in imitation of which Alexander the Great
when in India struck his square half-kahapana.
A series of punch-marked puranas (eldings), of doubtful
date and origin and without any legend, rank next, followed
by Roman oboli (pots full of which have been found in
places) and a few Greek and Byzantine coins. The sgeaborne
 trade of Ceylon for the first thousand years of the