AVICULID^l. SEA-WING. 89 



parodist, speaks of it as forming one of the dishes at 

 an Attic banquet, saying, — 



" And pinnas sweet, and cockles fat were there, 

 Which the wave breeds beneath its weedy bed." 



Indeed, if we may judge from the number of times 

 Athenaeus mentions it amongst the various eatable shell- 

 fishes, it formed a favourite article of food amongst the 

 ancients, aud was highly prized by them, as it is at 

 Naples in these days, where it is considered a recherche 

 morsel, and too expensive for the poor people to indulge 

 in. It is of greater value for its byssus, than for the 

 table. 



Poli remarks that it rarely appears in the Neapolitan 

 markets. He says that it is cooked at Naples with 

 pepper, oil, and lemon-juice, and served with baked 

 prunes. 



The large triangular-shaped Pinna radis may be 

 seen in the markets at Athens. 



Pearls are found in the Pinna, as I have already 

 stated, and the Oriental pearls, in the Pearl-oyster, 

 Meleagrinamargaritifera, which belongs to the " Avicu- 

 lidas." According to Pliny, the island of Taprobane 

 (Ceylon) was most productive of pearls, and he con- 

 siders that the most valuable were those found in the 

 vicinity of Arabia, in the Persian Gulf. Chares of 

 Mytilene, in his seventh book of his " Histories of 

 Alexander," tells us that in the Indian Sea, and also 

 off the coast of Armenia, Persia, Susiana, and Babv- 

 lonia, a fish is caught very like an oyster, large aud 

 of oblong shape, containing within its shell flesh 

 which is plentiful, white, and very fragrant, and from 

 it the men pick out white bones, called by them pearls. 

 And of these they make necklaces and chains for the 



