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CLASS CONCHIFERA. 



species found in the Mediterranean, in about five or six/ 

 fathoms water, which is much sought after by the inha- 

 bitants of Sicily and Calabria, not only as an article of 

 food, but also for the sake of its beard, or byssus, of 

 which, in many places, a kind of cloth is made, very 

 remarkable for its softness and warmth. The fishermen, 

 to obtain the Pinna, make use of a kind of iron rake, 

 called a cranipe, with teeth a foot in length; when the 

 shells are drawn up, the beards are found to be torn in 

 some part of their substance. If a sufficient length 

 remains attached to the animal, to render the fibres 

 available for the purpose of spinning, they are cut off 

 close to the shell : they are then dried and spun, and 

 afterwards woven into gloves, stockings, caps, and even 

 garments of much larger size. 



Pinna rudis. 



The threads of which the byssus is formed are ex- 

 tremely fine, and of equal thickness throughout their 

 whole length, very strong, and of a dark morone colour, 

 which is exceedingly permanent. 



