PEARL* AND PEARL SHELLS. 455 



fruit stones. It is rather attractive as an oddity, but the lack of color deprives it of 

 any aesthetic value. 



Among the quaint things shown by the Chinese* are the cups, saucers, and 

 spoons made from the larger types of tropical univalve shells. The finest specimens 

 come from the southern Philippines and the next from Borneo, but good ones are 

 found in the Pescadores and Formosa. It would seem as if the original idea was 

 Malayan and that the other races of the Orient were merely imitators. In making 

 cups and saucers the conchs are sawed through in about the same manner as 

 cocoanuts are when intended for dippers. They are cleaned and polished, and the 

 convex surface ground slightly so as to rest on a table without spilling or tilting. The 

 spoons are made by sawing the round superior surface of the conch at such an angle 

 as partially to intersect the spindle or major axis (columella), which becomes the handle 

 of the completed spoon. According to the size of the shell, the result is a dessert- 

 spoon, a tablespoon, or a ladle capable of containing a quart. The interior is of a 

 rich sulphur, salmon, or orange color, or of a pearly luster. It has no angles where 

 dirt can accumulate, and is about the handsomest natural spoon that I have ever seen. 

 They stand heat and cold well, but are attacked by vinegar, lemon juice, and other 

 acids. The best market in which to obtain them is Cebu, in the Philippine Islands. 



FRESH-WATER PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The abundance of the pearly shells of the family Unionidae, commonly known as 

 fresh-water mussels, in all the lakes, streams, and rivers of the United States, makes 

 them quite important as a possible source of material in the ornamental arts. Eefer- 

 ence has been made at various points in this article to fresh- water pearls and their 

 use in jewelry, both in this country and Europe, and to the enormous numbers 

 gathered in prehistoric times by some of the mound-builders of Ohio. As we possess 

 so great a variety of these shells, so widely distributed over the country, it seems 

 desirable to bring together here*a general review of all the material of this kind shown 

 at the World's Fair, and to lay stress on the value which it may have for decorative 

 work, and the importance of preserving and utilizing the supply so freely bestowed 

 upon our country and hitherto so little appreciated. 



Included in the references above made to various exhibits of pearls and pearl 

 shell are the following: 



In the Tiffany exhibit in the Manufactures building: The prepared and injected 

 specimen of Margaritana margaritifera, from Bohemia, showing a pearl in place 

 between the mantle and the shell; Unio pearls from Nova Scotia; seven of those from 

 near Paterson, N. J., gathered in the first river-pearl excitement in 1856; and some 

 of the prehistoric pearls from the Turner mounds of Ohio. 



There was also a large collection of various species of Unios, from the small shells 

 to the magnificent valves measuring nearly 8 inches in length, in a series in which one 

 valve of each specimen is polished and the other in its natural state, to show the com- 

 mercial possibilities of these shells. 



In the museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences there is displayed, 

 in their local collection of the mollusca of Long Island, a remarkable specimen of 



* Report of U. S. Consul Edward Bedloe, at Amoy. 



