The season extends from May to November, with a rest during the remaining five months of the year. The fishery is open to natives and to foreigners alike. While the leading fishermen employ diving-suits, which were introduced here about 1890, nude diving is yet practised to a considerable extent, the men descending in eight or ten, and some even in twelve fathoms of water. There is no restriction whatever on the nude fishermen, but for each machine diver an annual license fee of $125 United States currency is exacted. Owing to the low market price for Panama shell during recent years, the fishery has not been vigorously prosecuted, and it has even dwindled to low proportions. A letter from one of the leading pearling companies in Panama states that the machine divers number about twenty, while there are about four hundred nude fishermen; and another firm likewise prominent, estimates these fishermen at twenty and three hundred respectively. Yet a third pearling company writes that there are fifteen machine divers and two hundred head divers; and adds that the small demand for this quality of mother-of-pearl has made the condition of the industry about as bad as it could be; many who have capital invested are getting out of the business, and unless the market improves, the industry may be abandoned. Probably with the introduction of new capital and methods in the infant republic, the pearl resources may receive greater attention and a large development ensue. The Panama pearls are of good quality and frequently of large size. In color they range from white to green and lead-gray, and frequently greenish black. Valuable pearls are not common, but occasionally the fisherman is amply rewarded. A letter from the American consul at Panama states that in 1899 a native boy, fifteen years old, fishing in shallow water, as much for sport as for profit, found a pearl which he sold to a local speculator for 4000 silver dollars ($1760); this speculator delivered the same pearl to a dealer in Panama for 10,000 silver dollars ($4400), and an offer of 30,000 francs was refused for it later in Paris. A pearl worth $2400 was reported as found within half a mile of the steamship anchorage at Panama. A pearl from a giant oyster resembling Tridacna, was an absolute egg-shape, pure cocoanut white, and weighed 169 grains; it was 21 mm. at the longest and 16.5 mm. at the narrowest part. The surface showed very distinctly a wavy structure, occasionally with a tiny, brighter central point; the surface under the glass resembling a honeycomb network. At the smallest point there was a radiated center with quite a brilliant field. It was worth only $100. Not always, however, does the poor, ignorant fisherman receive the full value of his find; and many a story is told of some thoughtless improvident native, who, for less than a mess of pottage, “like the base Indian, threw a pearl away, richer than half his tribe.”