MUSSELS. 197 



celebrated "mother-of-pearl" so much employed in inlaying cabinet-work, 

 making knife-handles, paper-cutters, and a thousand other pretty articles. 



The pearl fishery is carried on in Jhe neighbourhood of Ceylon and in the 

 Persian Gulf. The pearl-oysters are obtained by diving in about twelve 

 fathoms. Many lives are annually sacrificed in pursuit of these highly-prized 

 baubles. 



The second family of Conchiferous Mollusks comprehends 



The Mussels (Mytilacea], all of which are furnished with a foot, enabling 

 them to creep about, and by its assistance they construct a cable composed 

 of horny threads, called byssus, whereby they attach themselves to rocks. 



FIG. 198. ANIMAL OF MUSSEL. 



The Wing-Shells (Pinna] are remarkable for the fineness of their bys- 

 sus. When mingled with about a third of real silk, it is sometimes spun and 

 manufactured into gloves, c., but they are merely objects of curiosity. 



The true Mussels (Mytilus] are well known to everybody : they frequent 

 mud banks which are uncovered at low water, are very prolific, and attain 

 their full growth in a single year. By means of a strong byssus they fasten 

 themselves to the rocks, where they defy the violence of the storm. " The 

 mussel is the owl of the sea," says Charles Lamb ; " Minerva's fish, the fish of 

 wisdom. He hears the tide roll backwards and forwards over him twice a 

 day, as the Salisbury coach goes and returns in eight-and-forty hours ; but he 

 knows better than to take an outside place on it." 



The River-Mussels (Unto} are met with in fresh- water lakes, rivers, and 

 ponds throughout the whole world. In some of them pearls are found which 

 are bright and of exquisite lustre : formerly there were extensive fisheries of 

 them both in Wales and Scotland. One taken from the river Conway, in 

 North Wales, is to this day honoured with a place in the imperial crown of 

 England. 



