142 
EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 
and again spread upon the table to dry; and^ when 
thoroughly dried^ it is drawn through a wide conab^ and 
afterwards through a narrow one. These combs are of 
bone^ and resemble hair-combs. The silk thus combed 
belongs to the common sort, and is called extradente ; 
but that which is destined for finer work is again drawn 
through iron combs or cards, called scarde. It is then 
spun with a distaff and spindle, two or three threads 
of it being mixed with one of silk; after which they 
knit, not only gloves, stockings, and waistcoats, but 
even whole garments of it. When the piece is finished, 
it is washed in clean water mixed with lemon-juice ; 
after which it is gently beaten between the hands, and 
finally smoothed with a warm iron. The most beauti- 
ful are of a brown cinnamon, and glossy gold, colour. 
A pair of gloves made of the ‘pinna silk may be seen in 
the British Museum ; and in the International Exhibition 
some articles made of it were exhibited in the Italian 
Court, viz. a large shawl, gloves, and specimens of the 
thread in skeins. 
As an article of food, the pinna is nearly as good as 
the scallop ; and Plutarch tells us that Matron, the pa- 
rodist, .speaks of it as forming one of the dishes at an 
Attic banquet, saying— 
“ And pinnas sweet, and cockles fat were there, 
Which the wave breeds beneath its weedy bed.” 
Indeed, if we may judge from the number of times 
Athenaeus mentions it amongst the various eatable shell- 
fishes, it formed a favourite article of food amongst the 
ancients, and was highly prized by them,— as it is at 
Naples in these days, where it is considered a recherche 
morsel, and too expensive for the poor people to indulge 
in. It is of greater value for its byssus than for the table. 
