NOTES. 47 



of pearls, himself to the cord on which they are suspended, thus, 

 " For they're a string of pearls, and I 

 The silken cord on which they lie." 



Carlisle's translation from the Arabic. 



Note °, page 19, line 9. 



Not all congenial to my mind, 



Pinna ! thy orange suit I find. 

 The Pinna Fin shell, or sea wing, is a beautiful and well 

 known genus. The Pinnae, are elegantly termed the silk worm of 

 the ocean, in allusion to the fine silky beard, or bissus, by the 

 means of which they moor themselves firmly to the rocks, or 

 all uresmall fish by the floating or trembling of the filaments in the 

 water. — Swinburne. 



This singular appearance is readily produced by the ani- 

 mal on a fsudden emergency. It darts out an extensile organ 

 and discharges from its tip a drop of gluten, which, by the draw- 

 ing back of the same organ, immediately forms a silky thread, 

 till by a repetition of this simple operation, a thick tuft is at 

 length completed. This tuft of silk, termed by the Sicilians 

 lanna penna, is broken oS and sold in its rude state to the coun- 

 try women, who wash it thoroughly in soap and water, they then 

 dry it in the shade, straiten the threads with a large comb, cut off 

 the useless root by which it adheres to the animal and card the re- 

 mainder. This silk is fabricated into various articles of wearing 

 apparel. The web is of a beautiful yellow brown resembling the bur- 

 nished gold on the backs of some splendid beetles, aneflfect which is 

 produced by steeping it in lemon juice, and afterwards pressing it 

 with a hotiron. A considerable manufactory of stufts is established 

 at Palermo ; they are extremely elegant, and vie in appearance with 

 such as are fabricated from the finest silk. In the year 1745, a 

 pair of stockings were presented to Pope Benedict XV. which. 



