252 On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 



translated onycha,* and by the lxx. onyx. • Dioscorides and Rura- 

 phius both describe the shell. It is found in the marshes of India, 

 where the Nard {Andropogon JVardus, Linn.) grows, on the leaves 

 of which it feeds, and is thence said to obtain its peculiar odor. 

 The shells are gathered in the summer, when the heat has dried up 

 the water ; and it serves as the basis of all perfumes throughout the 

 east. According to its etymology, (ow^'j onyx signifies the nail of 

 the finger or toe, which the substance resembles, and which, ac- 

 cording to the Greek tradition, was so called from its being the 

 parings of Venus' nails, cut off by Cupid with one of his arrows. 

 The best was procured from the shores of the Red Sea, which was 

 white and large : the Babylonian was black and smaller, and there- 

 fore probably from a different species of shell.f 



XXII. Mytilus edulis. (Linn.) — Edible Muscle. 



This shell is common to most parts of the world, being met with 

 in each of the four continents, and we believe in Australasia. Spe- 

 cimens from different places certainly do differ, but so slightly, and 

 so mdch the same are their habits, that a scientific naturalist finds it 

 impossible to separate the species by any decisive mark. 



In the warm climates they grow to a larger size, and their flesh is 

 more nutritive, than in the cold. They lie in large beds in shallow 

 water, and adhere to each other or to foreign substances, by means 

 of the byssus, which is particularly strong, but they are probably lo- 

 comotive, at least when young. They succeed the best when al- 

 ways under water, but will also live on rocks only covered at high 

 tide. They are generally used for the table, and make perhaps the 

 best bait known for fishing. In England they are chiefly eaten by 

 the poorer classes on the coasts, and seldom carried into the interior; 

 in Lancashire, however, they have been planted in the river Weir 

 like oysters, where they grew fat and delicious. They are plentiful 

 on most of the coasts of France, both in the Atlantic and Mediterra- 

 nean, and are commonly used not only in the maritime departments, 

 but also in Paris ; and although they are seldom admitted to the ta- 

 bles of the higher classes, the consumption of them is very consid- 

 erable. In the neighborhood of Rochelle they are kept to fatten in 



* Exodus, ch. xxxi. v. 34. Dictionnaire de Trevoux, Vol. iv. Art. Onyx. 

 t Calmet's Diet, of the Holy Bible, Art. Onycha. Scripture illustrated b}' means 

 of Natural Science, Vol. iv. p. 45. 



