THE PEARL OYSTER. 935 



was first determined by the late Dr. Kelaart that, although 

 the pearl-oyster had no power of detaching its byssus from 

 the rock, it yet could detach itself in turn from the byssus, 

 and could move to another spot, there to form a new 

 byssus. (/) This power of changing the position may 

 therefore in some degree have affected the apparent scar- 

 city of the oysters in certain parts of the fishing-grounds. 



(/) It may interest the reader, by the way, to learn that from the 

 most remote periods of antiquity the byssus, by which the Great Pinna, 

 or Sea "Wing (Pinna nobitis), affixes its shell to rock or stone at the 

 bottom of the sea, has been spun and woven into different articles of 

 dress. For this purpose the shells are dragged up by a kind of iron 

 rake, with many teeth, each about seven inches long and three inches 

 asunder, and attached to a handle proportionate to the depth of water 

 in which the shells are found. They are found in great abundance in 

 the Mediterranean, and in the sea near some parts of the coast of 

 America. When the byssus is separated, it is well washed, to cleanse 

 it from impurities. It is then dried in the shade, and straightened with 

 a large comb ; the hard part from which it springs is cut off, and the 

 remainder is properly carded. By these different processes it is said 

 that a pound of byssus, as taken from the sea, is reduced to about 

 three ounces. This substance, in its natural colour, which is a brilliant 

 golden brown, is manufactured in Sicily and Calabria (with the aid of 

 a little silk to strengthen it) into stockings, gloves, caps, waistcoats, 

 and other articles of extremely fine texture. All these, however, are to 

 be considered rather as curious than useful, and the manufacture of 

 them is now almost a thing of the past. 



(m) In interesting connection with this I quote an instance which, 

 to the ignorant, would doubtless seem a corroboration of the above, and 

 which idea the writer of the newspaper paragraph quoted below seems 

 to have been impressed with. My information gives no date because 

 the extract bore none, but from its tenour it was apparently recent, and 

 (from the date of issue of my authority) would prove to be the early 

 part of June, 1889. I give it verbatim :- 



STRANGE IMPORTATION OF OYSTERS. Some thousands of 



