On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 257 
account of one which weighed five hundred and seven pounds ; the 
largest valve measured four feet six inches in length, and two feet 
five inches and a half in breadth, and one foot in depth. Large | 
pearls are occasionally found in them; the same gentleman once 
exhibited one which was valued at between nine hundred and twelve 
hundred dollars; a large shell of this sort is used as a baptismal 
font in the church of St. Sulpice, at Paris, and was presented by the 
Venetians to Francis the first. The shell is worked by the natives 
of Sumatra into arm rings and other ornaments, and in the hands of 
their artists is found to take a polish equal to finest statuary marble. 
It is several inches thick, and perfectly white, and might probably 
be used to advantage in some of the finer arts in this country. One 
of the methods of taking them is by thrusting a long bamboo be- 
tween the valves as they lie open, when by the immediate closure 
that follows, they are made fast. The name for this shell in the 
language of Sumatra is Kima, whence probably our word.* It is 
this shell in which Neptune is represented in pictures to be riding. 
XXVII. Cameos or Camaieuzx, are in the present day frequently 
made from shells. The word properly applies to the onyx stone, 
whether cut or not, and which is formed of layers of different colors, 
so that when cut the ground appears of one hue and the figure of 
another. The derivation of the name is Camehuia, an oriental 
word, signifying another stone, or one stone placed on another. The 
shells employed are from the Mediterranean, but we have not been 
able to ascertain the species—the genus we understand to be Venus. 
The outer coat is white, the interior layers dark red, and being very 
hard, admit of a fine polish. They are cut with the lapidary’s mill. 
The substitution of shells for stones, appears to be a very modern 
invention. False cameos are made of pieces of glass of different 
colors luted together, and afterwards either cut or cast, according to 
the figure. It is these which are now so common and sold at so low 
@ price.t 
XXVIII. Suetus have long been used by the ladies in making 
fancy work ; sixty or seventy years since, this was particularly the 
fashion in Europe, and large grottos, on which extravagant sums had 
been expended were not uncommon, besides a multiplicity of fancy 
+ Dillwyn’s Des. Cat. Vol. 1. p.215. Marsden’s History of Sumatra, 3d ed. pp. 
t Chalmers’ Commercial Dictionary. Dictionnaire de Trevoux, Art, Onyx, 
33 
Vol. XXXII.—No. 2. 
