THE EDIBLE MUSSEL. 



425 



Museum may now be seen a pair of gloves that have been woven from the byssus of 

 the uiant Pinna, ;i species which sometimes attains the length of two feet, and has a 

 most singular appearance when old, owing to the mass of parasitic creatures, such as 

 serpulo.-, balani, and sundry zoophytes, that always congregate on such substances. 



It is remarkable that a little crab, called, from its habits, Pinnotheres, is often found 

 within the shell of this mollusc, and was formerly thought to have entered into a tacit 

 agreement with its host to act as sentinel and to bring in food as a return for the 

 hospitality afforded to it. This, however, is not a solitary instance of such strange 

 alliance, several other molluscs being known to shelter their particular crustacean guest. 

 When at rest, the Pinna is mostly buried in the sand, with the exception of the upper 

 edges of the shell, which are permitted to protrude just above the substances in which 

 the rest of the creature is immersed. 



NOAH'S ARK. Area Noae. MAGELLANIC MUSSEL. -Mftllus Magelleoicus. 



FORK-TAILED DATE-SHELL. LKhodomus caudlgera. 

 EDIBLE MUSSEL. -Mytllus edulls. FINGER DATE-SHELL. Llthodomus daciylus. 



WE now come to the large, usefu*, and even beautiful family of the Mussels, although, 

 in most cases, their beauty is not perceptible until the shell has been polished and the 

 rich tints thereby brought out. Rough and polished mahogany are not more unlike 

 each other than the Mussel-shell before and after the polishing process. Some species 

 are marine, while others inhabit the fresh water, and all may be known by the peculiar 

 shape of the shells. 



The EDIBLE MUSSEL, so common in the fishmonger's shop and the costermonger's 

 barrow, is found in vast profusion on our coasts, where it may be seen moored to rocks, 

 stones, and fibres, alternately covered with water or left dry according to the flowing 

 and ebbing of the tide. The heedless bather is sometimes apt to come unexpectedly 

 upon a collection of these molluscs, and if he once meets with that misfortune, his 

 lacerated limbs, cut in all directions by the knife-like edges of the shells, will serve as 

 effectual warnings not to repeat the same imprudence. 



At some periods of the year the Mussel is extremely injurious as an article of food, 

 though the effects seem,' like those produced by eating the bonita, to depend greatly on 



