On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 59 
Jugurthan war, gave them the name of Uniones, which appears to 
have been the first occasion on which this word, now so well known, 
was applied to shells.* 
The derivation of the Greek word popyapoy or popyapirng, from 
which the other countries of the south of Europe have derived theirs, 
is supposed to be from the Tartar margion, signifying a globe of fire, 
and the Persian marvarid, meaning ews of light.+ In the pres- 
ent day, the Arabians, Persians and Turks use the word merovorid, - 
for this gem. 
In Rome they were entailed and handed down to posterity, and 
if sold, a warrantry of their identity required. 
Modern history.—The pearls and shells used at the present day 
are chiefly brought from the island of Ceylon, where the fisheries 
are extensively prosecuted, but other parts of the eastern as well as 
the western hemisphere are celebrated for producing them. In India 
the chief places are the island of Bahren or Beharein in the Persian 
Gulf,$ Catesa on the coast of Arabia Felix, and near the city of 
Nipehoa, on the lake of the same name in Chinese Tartary, as well 
as in the Red Sea, and on the coast of Japan. A few also are pro- 
cured near Java and Sumatra. Pearls are brought in great numbers 
from the Persian Gulf to Bombay,|| but those sold at Madras, and 
which are found in the Gulf of Manaar, are more highly esteemed 
in Europe than those procured in this place. 
_ The best shells of commerce are from the Sooloo Islands, situ- 
ated between Borneo and the Philippines, the shores of which afford 
the finest and largest shells hitherto discovered. There is also a 
fishery at Tuticoveen, on the coast of Coromandel, which is held as 
a monopoly by the British East India Company. They are also 
found off Algiers, in the Mediterranean; in 1826, this fishery was 
farmed by an English company, but with what success is not known. 
They also inhabit the islands of the South Seas, especially on the 
* Plin. Hist. Nat. 1x. 35. 
+ Rees’ Cyclopeedia, Art. Pearu 
: rage Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Art. Peart 
“ sovereignty of the sea, they hav 
“them to contend with the Arabic ans of the opposite coast.”—Sir J. Malcolm’s 
History of Persia, II. 515. 
ii Heber’s Narrative, 11.165. Am. Ed. 
4 Kelly’s Univ. Cambist. I. 95, note. 
#* McCulloch’s Commercial Dictionary, Art, Pear. 
