AVICULID^ AND ARCAD.E. 95 



ViN'NApectinata is a pleasing example of a very noble tribe 

 of bivalves. The Pi7in<^ are something like enormous mus- 

 sels with the end open. Some of the species attain a size 

 of two feet long and one foot broad at the broader end, for 

 they are broad at one end and taper to the other end, which 

 is the apex. Although our species only attains, even in ex- 

 treme cases, twelve inches in length, it is still the largest 

 bivalve of our seas. The vital part of the inside is lined 

 with thin pearl. In the bed of Piima at Salcombe Bay, 

 discovered by Montagu, they were all fixed with the small 

 end downwards, and attached so firmly by the large strong 

 byssus of silky threads, that it was no easy task to separate 

 them. They are said to be used as food, but require a great 

 deal of cooking to make them even tolerably tender. 



In the British Museum there are not only specimens of 

 pearls taken from Pinnce, but also of gloves woven from 

 their byssus. The latter however are by no means elegaut 

 in appearance, and it is not very likely that Pinna gloves 

 and stockings will ever be a manufacture in demand. 



Those who have watched the general fondness of little 

 crabs on our shores for getting into nooks and crevices of 

 every kind for shelter, will easily understand how some of 

 them would find a comfortable asylum between the flaky 



