300 



POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



considerable size, some specimens being a foot and a half 

 long ; P. pectenata is found in our own seas on the coasts 

 of Dorsetshire and Sussex. Pearls are occasionally found 

 in the shell of the Pinna, but they are of an amber colour 

 and of little value ; sometimes a small species of crab 

 takes up its abode inside, without prejudice to either 

 party, and, as Forbes says, " many fables have been 

 narrated of their friendship." Sowerby does not believe 

 in the statement. A species found in the Mediterranean 

 is much sought after by the inhabitants of Sicily and 

 Calabria, not only as an article of food, but also for the 

 sake of its byssus, which is long, fine, shining, and 

 abundant : of this they fabricate a species of cloth, very 

 remarkable for its warmth and softness, but which will 

 not take any dye. In the British Museum there is a pair 

 of gloves made of this material, in a case with some large 

 specimens of the shell, and it is recorded in history, that 

 Pope Benedict XV. had a pair of stockings presented to 

 him in 1 754 made of this material ; they were enclosed in 

 a very small box, and were extremely fine in texture. 



PiNNOGrENA. Saussure. (Trichites Lycett.) — Shell free, 

 narrow, lengthened, inequivalve, closed ; the largest valve 

 has coarse knobs on the surface, proceeding from the 

 longitudinal ribs ; the form of the hinge seems to be un- 

 known. — Fossil. 



This genus is, from the filamentous structure of the 

 shell, very remarkable, and is only known in the fossil 

 state. 



