MYTILlDiE 
3fi9 
Fig. 152 . Pina nulla (Lin»&»us). 
grave effects, showing that for them its fle'sh has the effects of poison . 
The symptoms, commonly observed two or three hours after the repast, 
a re weakness or torpor, constriction of the 
throat and swelling of the head, accompanied 
by great thirst, nausea, frequent vomitings, and 
e ruption of the skin and severe itching. 
The cause of these attacks is not very well 
a scertained ; they have in turn been ascribed 
to the presence of copper pyrites in the neigh- 
bourhood of the mussel ; to certain small crabs 
^bicli lodge themselves as parasites in the 
8 hell of the mussel ; to the spawn of star-fishes 
° r medusa; that the mussel may have swal- 
Wed. But, probably, the true cause of this 
bind of poisoning resides in the predisposition 
°f individuals. The remedy is very simple : a 
v °mit, accompanied by drinking plentifully of 
a light acidulated beverage. 
The genus Pina, so called by' Linnmus, 
from one of the species which was so designated from the resemblance 
°i its byssns to the aigrette or plumelet which the Boman soldiers at- 
tached to the helmet. French naturalists name 
|bem jambonneau, from their- singular resem- 
tance to a dried ham (Figs. 152 and 153), 
their brown, smoky colour not a little aiding 
the resemblance. This shell is fibrous, horny, 
Var y thin and fragile, compressed, regular, and 
valve, triangularly pointed in front, round or 
Seated behind. The hinge is linear, straight, 
without teeth ; the ligament, in great part 
Internal, occupies more than half the anterior 
a fr of the dorsal edge of the shell, forming a 
straight elongated fossette. 
The animal is thick, elongated, with mantle 
a Pen behind, presenting a conical furrowed 
°t, bearing a considerable byssus. 
The Pinm are found in almost every sea, and at various depths ; 
e y are constantly attached by their byssus, and in a vertical position, 
2 B 
Fig. 153. Pina nigrina 
(Lamarck). 
th, 
