The cockelle, with heavenly dew so clene 
Of kynde, engendereth white pearls rounde. 
Old poem. 
When we see such forms as these we hardly like to 
think that they are secreted by some slimy mollusk, but 
would imagine that the mermaids tear off pieces of the 
rainbows where they touch the sea, and carry them to the 
cold depths to congeal them into shells—H. A. Ward’s 
Catalogue of Species. 
60 
