72 MYTILUS. 



two shillings ; those of eight or nine grains, if fine 

 in colour and shape, are of arbitrary value. The 

 finest specimens, of extremely rare occurrence, 

 have fetched enormous prices, and have even been 

 considered invaluable, fit only to adorn the regalia 

 of princes and contribute to the costly splendour 

 of Asiatic potentates. These beautiful and unas- 

 suming productions, so delicate and varied in their 

 tints, so elegant in their forms, are more highly 

 estimated and more generally used as ornaments 

 in Asia than in Europe, and consequently the most 

 precious are retained by the Asiatic merchants. 



The word Mytilus is from iJu-jriXog, the diminu- 

 tive of iMvg, a fnonse, to which little sharp-nosed 

 animal some of the small dark species might have 

 been compared. 



