286 



POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



divided into several ; the pallial simple. Fluviatile ; par- 

 ticularly abundant in North America, but not extending 

 to the Polar regions. 



The shells of this family (like all others which are lined 

 with what is called mother-of-pearl) are sometimes found 

 to contain pearls of a good quality, and in large numbers, 

 as many as sixteen having been taken from one shell. 

 The Esk and Conway are celebrated for them. Sir 

 Richard Wynn, chamberlain to Catherine, queen of 

 Charles II., is said to have presented her majesty with a 

 Conway pearl, which is to this day honoured with a place 

 in the regal crown. Some of the Scotch rivers have pro- 

 duced numerous specimens of large and beautiful pearls, 

 which have borne a high price. A paper in the Philo- 

 sopfucal Transactions for 1693 gives a curious account of 

 the fishery for these pearls in the river Omagh, county 

 Tyrone, Ireland. " The poor people," the writer says, 

 " in the summer months go into the water, and some with 

 their toes, some with wooden tongs, and some by putting 

 a sharpened stick into the opening of the shell, take them 

 up ; and although, by a common estimate, not above one 

 shell in a hundred may have a pearl, and of these pearls 

 not above one in a hundred be tolerably clear, yet a vast 

 number of fair merchantable pearls are offered for sale by 

 these people every summer assizes. Some gentlemen of 

 the country make good advantage thereof, and myself 

 heard that a miller took out a pearl which he sold for 

 4/. 10s. to a man that sold it for 10/. ; the last purchaser 

 sold it to the late Lady Glenlealy for 307., with whom I 

 saw it in a necklace : she refused 80/. for it from the late 

 Duchess of Ormond." 



Between the years 1761 and 1764 the pearls found in 

 the mussels of the river Tay were worth 10,000/. It is 



