56 THE NAUTILUS. 



CURIOUS CHINESE USE OF SHELL-FISH. The Chinese have been 

 students of the habits of animals for many thousand of years, and 

 the influences of this study have manifested themselves in their art 

 and their architecture, so much so, that one can readily recognize 

 the common form of their animal life through its resemblances to 

 the objects and pictures with which we are familiar. 



One of the most interesting is what is known as the "joss-shell." 

 Every one has noticed the pearly luster of the bivalves of our rivers 

 and ponds, fresh-water mussels, they are called. These mussels are 

 lined throughout with the same kind of material as the pearl-oyster, 

 and, indeed, pearls of value are often to be found in them. In 

 China and Japan, these mussels grow to great size, in the latter 

 country being oftentimes seven to ten inches in length, and in China, 

 fully as large as a small saucer. The shrewd Chinese are aware 

 that the pearly nacre is a protection of the animal, which has thus 

 the smoothest of substances against its sensitive skin, and they know 

 also that any grain of dirt or roughness will be quickly coated with 

 pearl if it should lie under the mantle. They therefore catch the 

 animal, and oblige it to make such designs as they desire. These are 

 usually little josses, images of some one of the Chinese Gods, which 

 are formed in clay and slipped between the mantle and the shell of 

 the mollusk. The latter, as soon as it is put into the water again, 

 begins to cover the model with a coat of pearl, and at some time, 

 when the process has been carried far enough, the animal is killed 

 and the shells preserved with their pearly josses and sold as curiosi- 

 ties. They are, however, very rare in this country, being on exhi- 

 bition only in a few of the larger museums. It is said that upwards 

 of one thousand of the Chinese made their living by this industry, 

 and that they will, on order, insert in the shells models of the 

 initals of any one's name, which, after a wait of a year and a half, 

 will be ready for delivery. The Happy Thought, July 15, 1895. 



PROF. GILBERT D. HARKIS, of Cornell University, has returned 

 from a geological trip through Mississippi and Alabama, and is now 

 spending two weeks at the Academy of Natural Sciences, studying 

 the " Laa Collection " of Eocene fossils. 



POLYGYRA CEREOLUS SANCTIJOHANNIS n. var. Shell having the 

 characters given in Man. Conch. IX, p. 73 for P. cereolus septemvolva^ 

 but periphery pinched out into an excessively acute keel. It is 

 extremely abundant along the middle St. Johns River, Fla., from 

 the Lake George region to L. Monroe at Sanford. I have seen 

 nothing like it from other parts of the State. The shell is very 

 thin, having very little lime in its composition, never enough to 

 give a whitish color. Pikbry. 



