On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 59 



Jugurthan war, gave them the name of Uniones, which appears to 

 have been the first occasion on which this word, now so well known, 

 was applied to shells.* 



The derivation of the Greek word fxapyapov or ^jMpyapirrig, from 

 which the other countries of the south of Europe have derived theirs, 

 is supposed to be from the Tartar margion, signifying a globe of fire, 

 and the Persian marvarid, meaning offspring of light.f In the pres- 

 ent day, the Arabians, Persians and Turks use the word merovorid, 

 for this gem.J 



In Rome they were entailed and handed down to posterity, and 

 if sold, a warrantry of their identity required. 



Modern history. — The pearls and shells used at the present day 

 are chiefly brought from the island of Ceylon, where the fisheries 

 are extensively prosecuted, but other parts of the eastern as well as 

 the western hemisphere are celebrated for producing them. In India 

 the chief places are the island of Bahren or Beharein in the Persian 

 Gulf,<§> Catesa on the coast of Arabia Felix, and near the city of 

 Nipehoa, on the lake of the same name in Chinese Tartary, as well 

 as in the Red Sea, and on the coast of Japan. A few also are pro- 

 cured near Java and Sumatra. Pearls are brought in great numbers 

 from the Persian Gulf to Bombay, || but those sold at Madras, and 

 which are found in the Gulf of Manaar, are more highly esteemed 

 in Europe than those procured in this place. H 



The best shells of commerce are from the Sooloo Islands, situ- 

 ated between Borneo and the Philippines, the shores of which afford 

 the finest and largest shells hitherto discovered. There is also a 

 fishery at Tuticoveen, on the coast of Coromandel, which is held as 

 a monopoly by the British East India Company. They are also 

 found off Algiers, in the Mediterranean ; in 1826, this fishery was 

 farmed by an Enghsh company, but with what success is not known.** 

 They also inhabit the islands of the South Seas, especially on the 



* Plin. Hist. Nat. ix. 35. 



t Rees' CyclopcEdia, Art. Pearl. 



t Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Art. Pearl. 



§ " We can hardly consider any of the fisheries on the Persian Gulf as belong- 

 " ing to Persia, for although the monarchs of this nation have always claimed the 

 "sovereignly of the sea, they have at no period had a navy that could enable 

 " them to contend with the Arabic rulers of the opposite coast." — Sir J. Malcolm's 

 History of Persia, II. 515. 



II Heber's Narrative, II. 165. Am. Ed. 



IT Kelly's Univ. Cambist. 1. 95, note. 



** McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, Art. Pearl. 



