154 History of Nature. [BooK IX. 



they place them, not on the upper Portion of their Slippers, 

 but also over all their Sandals. For it is not enough to carry 

 Pearls about with them, but they must tread upon them, and 

 even walk among Pearls. 



Pearls were accustomed to be found in our Seas, and 

 more abundantly about the Thracian Bosphorus ; but they 

 were small and ruddy in the Shells, which they call Myse : l 

 In Acarnania the Shell called Pinna 1 produceth them. 

 Whereby it appeareth that they are bred in more than one 

 Sort of Concha. King Juba, also, hath recorded, that on 

 the Arabian Coasts there is a Kind of Shell like a notched 

 Pecten, but rough, something like the Echinus ; and this 

 beareth Pearls in the Flesh like a Hailstone. But no such 

 Shells are brought to us. Neither in Acarnania are any 

 found of much Reputation, being of irregular Form, and of 

 a Marble Colour. There are better about Actium, but they 

 are small ; and so are they which are taken on the Sea 

 Coasts of Mauritania. Alexander Polyhistor and Sudines 

 are of Opinion that they will show Signs of Age, and lose 

 their Colour. That they are solid in their Substance, is 

 evident by this, that with no Fall will they break. But they 

 are not always found in the Middle of the Flesh, but some- 

 times in one Place, and sometimes in another. I have seen 

 them at the very Edges, as if they were going out of the 

 Shell ; and in some four, in others five together. Unto this 

 Day few have been known to weigh above half an Ounce 

 and a Scruple. In Britain it is certain that some are pro- 

 duced, but they are small and dim, of Colour : for Divus 

 Julius wished it to be understood that the Breastplate which 

 he dedicated to Venus Genetrix in her Temple, was made of 

 British Pearls. 



I myself have seen Lollia Paulina, who was the Wife of 

 the Prince Caius, not when she was dressed in State, or for 



1 Myse : Pinna : gaping Bivalves, still known to science by the same 

 names. The shell here compared to an Echinus may be Pecten echinatus; 

 but there are several Bivalves with spines projecting from their surface. 

 The Editor has obtained a jet black and perfectly round pearl from an 

 English Pinna: P. ingens. Wern. Club. 



