FRESHWATER MUSSELS. 267 
the late Duchess of Ormond.’ ‘The pearl,’ Sir 
Robert observes, ‘ lies in the toe,. or lesser end, at 
the extremity of the gut, and out of the body of 
the fish, between the two films or skins that line 
the shell.’ He remarks that they correspond with 
calculi in other animals. 
“The pearls of the Conway had great fame. 
According to Pennant a notion prevails in Wales, 
‘that Sir Richard Wynne, of Gwydir, Chamber- 
lain to Catherine, queen of Charles the Second, 
presented her majesty with a pearl from the Con- 
way, which is to this day honoured with a place in 
the regal crown.’ He says the Pearl Mussels are 
called by the Welsh Cregin Diluw, or Deluge 
Shells, as if left there by the flood. Mr. Wilson, 
of Warrington, in ‘ Loudon’s Magazine of Natural 
History’ for June, 1830, says they are taken in the 
upper part of the Conway, near Llanrwst, but the 
search is very precarious. He mentions a Scotch 
pearl half an inch in diameter. In Scotland, the 
Tay was the seat of a pearl-fishery, extending from 
Perth to Loch Tay. ‘It is said,’ writes Captain 
Brown, ‘that the pearls sent from thence to Lon- 
don, from the year 1761 to 1764, were worth ten 
thousand pounds sterling; and it is not uncommon 
at the present time to find pearls in the Teith and 
Tay worth from one to two pounds each.’ The 
variety Roissyz of this Unio was formerly much 
sought for in the river near Braddan, in the Isle of 
Man, on account of its pearls.” * 
* Forbes and Hanley; Brit. Moll. ii. 149; et seq. 
