BIVALVE MOLLUSCANS. 259 



as well as for use : and the most valuable of all 

 possessions, the kingdom of grace in the heart, 

 is symbolized by a pearl of great price ; and 

 though the apostle charges females not to adorn 

 themselves with gold or pearls, but with good 

 works, the meaning of the passage is, that the 

 latter should have their first attention, not to 

 forbid absolutely the use of the former they 

 are to adorn themselves not so much with gold 

 or pearls as with good works which ought to 

 be the object of their most sedulous care. 



The animal that produces pearls in the great- 

 est abundance, of the purest nature, and of the 

 highest value, was by Linn6 classed with the 

 muscles, 1 but Lamarck has formed it into a 

 distinct genus which he names Meleagrina. 

 In this country it is usually called the pearl- 

 oyster. It inhabits the Persian Gulf, the 

 coasts of Ceylon, the sea of New Holland, the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and the coasts of Japan. It 

 attains perfection no where but in the equato- 

 rial seas, but the pearl fishery in the island of 

 Ceylon is the most celebrated and productive ; 

 it is on the west coast, off the bay of Condatchy, 

 where the country is very sandy and nearly 

 without inhabitants, but on these occasions 

 a populous town, with many streets a mile long, 

 appears to have suddenly started up. The 

 oyster beds or banks extend over a space thirty 



1 Mytilus margaritiferus. 



