178 



The Pinna has been long celebrated for giving protec- 

 tion to a (mall fpecies of crab, and which was fuppofed to 

 be of great ufe to the animal, by giving it notice either 

 of approaching danger or of its prey. 



Thefe fioriesj however, as handed down to us from ear- 

 lier times, are not wholly unfounded, hut mixed with too 

 much fable to be fully credited in thefe more enlightened 

 days. The (liell of the Pinna, as well as many others, be- 

 comes the habitation of fome fmall fpecies of crab, which 

 feems to live in harmony with the animal inhabitant. It is 

 however remarkable, that in not lefs than fifty of the 

 Pinna ingens we opened, not a fingle crab was f Dund ; and 

 yet in the only fpecimen of Mytilus Modiolus, taken in the 

 fame place, no lefs than three crabs were found alive with- 

 in the fliell. 



The ancients equally celebrated this fliell for its filky 

 hyjfus, from which they made the mod coflly vedments : 

 even modern travellers affure us, gloves and Uockings are 

 manufaftured from the beard of this animal at Palermo, 

 Naples, and Taranto. 



1. 



Pectinata. Pinna peflinata. Lin. Syji. p. 1 160. — Gmel. Syjl. p. 3363. 2. 



C/iem. Conch, viii. t. S7. f. 7 70. 

 Piilt. Cat. Dorfet. p. 39.— Gualt. 79. C ? 

 Ti/rt. Lin. iv. p. 301. 

 Pinna fragilis. Br. Zool. t. 69. f. SO ? 

 Pinna muricata. Da Cofia. p. 240. t. 16. f. 3. 

 Don. Br. Shdls. i. t. 10. 



P. with 



