RAMBLES IN FLORIDA. . 285 

for the earache, but he does not say in what manner it is 
applied.”* Pinna rudis, an English species, is sometimes 
eaten, and Henry and Arthur Adams also mention that 
. 5Some species are used for food.1t 
4 A dead fish, half eaten by the birds, is not an attractive 
object; it is in an unsavory state, but doubtless its scales 
Would, under a microscope, astonish us with many lines of 
beauty. The butterflies, so unlike the fishes in form and 
habits, also have minute scales, hence the metallic lustre 
and brilliancy of their coloring ; impalpable to the naked 
eye, their tiny scales resemble the pollen of flowers. Co- 
umbus “gave a new world to Castile and Leon;” but think 
3 of the world of enchantment, of the precious treasures that 
| the microscope has opened to all. 
À thin slice cut from a spine of the Sea-urchin (Echinus) 
that we have just picked up, if magnified, would furnish a 
partial insight to the wonders of its plan of structure. 
e find the oblong pouch-like egg-cases of a species of 
Skate (Raia) quite common. The texture and color of these 
pouches are such, that a person not knowing would sooner 
Suppose that in some way they rather belonged to the sea- 
Weeds, perhaps the pod of a species of Alga, than pertain- 
ing to the fishes. If we were strolling along the shores of 
California or Europe we should meet with the same queer 
forms, In England the people call them " pixy-purses," 
_ "hiry-purses," ete. A species of Dog-fish (Scyllium) makes 
a similar purse-like egg-case, with long strings at the cor- 
ners, The Skate-fishes are eaten in England, and appear in 
the stalls of the Italian fish-market in San Francisco, the 
Californian species may generally be found, but they are 
“aten only by the foreign population. The common English 
"ite sometimes attains the weight of two hundred pounds ; 
it is used by the fishermen for bait. 














yl TW species of Pinna may be found on the beach of Amelia Island: P. Carolinensis 
UNDE iiss issima Phil.; they are quite common, particularly the former 
.9 not think they were eaten by the aborigines, as none of the shells, or even frag- 
any of the heaps or mounds. | 

