home, but likewise to obtain a supply of provender sufficient to satisfy the wants of its larger companion. The following different account of the nature of this alliance is much more in agreement with probability:— Whenever the pinna ventures to open its shell, it is immediately exposed to the attacks of various of the smaller kinds of fish, which, finding no resistance to their first assaults, acquire boldness and venture in. The vigilant guard, by a gentle bite, gives notice of this to his companion, who, upon this hint, closes her shell, and having thus shut them in makes a prey of those who had come to prey upon her when thus supplied with food, she never fails to share her booty with so useful an ally. We are told that the sagacious observer Dr. Hasselquist, in his voyage about the middle of the last century to Palestine, which he undertook for objects connected with the study of natural history, beheld this curious phenomenon, which, though well known to the ancients, had escaped the attention of the moderns. It is related by Aristotle* that the pinna keeps a guard to watch for her, which grows to her mouth, and serves as her caterer: this he calls pinnophylax, and describes as a little fish with claws like a crab. Pliny observes, that the smallest species of crab is called the pinnotores, and being from its diminutive size liable to injury, has the prudence to conceal itself in the shells of oysters. In another place he describes the pinna as of the genus of shell-fish, with the further particulars that it is found in muddy waters, always erect, and never without a companion, called by some pinnotores, by others pinnophylax; this being sometimes a small squill, sometimes a crab, which remains with the pinna for the sake of food. The description of the pinna by the Greek poet Oppianus, who flourished in the second century, has been thus given in English verse: "The pinna and the crab together dwell, For mutual succor in one common shell; They both to gain a livelihood combine, -That takes the prey, when this has given the sign; By ancient Greeks was Pinnotores named." It is said that the pinna fastens itself so strongly to the rocks, that the men who are employed in fishing it are obliged to use considerable force to break the tuft of threads Hist. lib. v. c. 15.) † Lib. ix. 51. 66. by which it is secured fifteen, twenty, and sometimes thirty feet below the surface of the sea. The fishermen at Toulon use an instrument called a cramp for this curious pursuit. This is a kind of iron fork, whose prongs are each about eight feet in length and six inches apart, and placed at right angles to the handle, the length of which is regulated by the depth of water. The pinnæ are seized, separated from the rock, and raised to the surface by means of this instrument. The threads of the pinna have from very ancient times been employed in the manufacture of certain fabrics. This material was well known to the ancients, as some suppose, under the name of byssus,* and was wrought in very early times into gloves and other articles of dress and ornament. It appears that robes were sometimes made of this produce, since we learn from Procopius that a robe composed of byssus of the pinna was presented to the satraps of Armenia by the Roman emperor.t A writer of the year 1782 evidently refers to the pinnæ marinæ, when he says, "The ancients had a manufacture of silk, and which, about forty years ago, was revived at Tarento and Regio in the kingdom of Naples. It consists of a strong brown silk, belonging to some sort of shell, of which they make caps, gloves, stockings, waistcoats, &c., warmer than the woollen stuffs, and brighter than common silk. I have seen such kind of silk in shells myself; I think it was of the pecten kind, but cannot be sure." Several beautiful manufactures are wrought with these threads at Palermo. They are in many places the chief object of the fishery, and the silk is found to be excellent. The produce of a considerable number of pinnæ is required to make only one pair of stockings. The delicacy of this singular thread is such that a pair of stockings made of it can be easily contained in a snuff-box of ordinary size. Some stockings of this material were presented, in the year 1754, to pope Benedict XIV.; and, notwithstanding their extreme fineness, were found to protect the legs alike from cold and heat. Stockings and gloves of this production, however thin, are too warm for common wear, but are esteemed useful in gouty and rheumatic cases. This great warmth of the byssus, like the similar quality in silk, results *Note D D.' † Procopius de Edif. lib. iii. c. i. The Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy, By Benjamin Martin, vol. iii. p. 179. probably from both being imperfect conductors of heat as well as of electricity. It is not probable that this material will ever be obtained in much abundance, or that it will cease to be a rarity, except in the places of its production. It is never seen in England save in the cabinets of the curious. The appearance and general characteristics of the produce of the pinna, the spider, and the silkworm, are so similar, as to have acquired for them one generic name. If all their constituent parts be alike, it forms another among the numerous subjects for surprise and admiration, excited by contemplating the wonderful works of nature, that the same silky principle can be alike elaborated from the fish, the fly, and the mulberry leaf.* *Note E E: PART III. ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. CHAP. I. REELING. Arrangement of Filature.-Separation of different Kinds of Cocoons.-Description of Reel.-Manner of Reeling.-Construction and Proportions of Reel regulated by Law in Piedmont.-Precautions.-Size of Threads. -Regulation of Temperature.-Waste Silk.-Quantity reeled in a given time.-Mode of ascertaining Fineness of Thread.-Spun Silk.-Fleuret. -French inferior to Italians, in the Art of Reeling.-Regulations and Restrictions in Piedmont.-Their Oppressiveness and Impolicy. In countries where silk is produced, the winding of cocoons is generally pursued as a business distinct from that of rearing the worms; and the silken balls become an article of trade so soon as the insect within has been deprived of vitality by some one of the means already described. Sometimes, indeed, this process also is left to be performed by the purchaser. The building designed for a filature should be lofty; open on one side and accessible to the rays of the sun, while it is walled on the other side as a shelter from cold winds. A free passage should be afforded to the steam arising from the boilers, which vessels should be disposed in rows on either side of the building; by which arrangement the superintendant can readily overlook the whole number. Before the cocoons can be reeled, it is necessary to separate them from their outward floss. This is very expeditiously done by opening the floss at one end, and protruding the cocoon, or hard, compact ball, which is to be reeled. Although previously to selling his cocoons the vender is by law obliged to separate the soufflons and perforated cocoons from the others, there will yet always remain some of these, which, added to the dupions and choquettes, amount to about ten per cent. of the whole number. It is of great consequence that the cocoons should at this time be carefully classed, according to their qualities, as each separate class requires a different treatment in reeling, both as regards the heat applied and the rapidity of winding. Good cocoons, white as well as yellow, are the easiest wound. Cocalons call for the greatest care and skill: they require to be placed in cooler water than the others, and then, in the hands of an expert winder, as good silk may be produced from them as from the rest. Experienced reelers must likewise be employed for dupions and choquettes, which both require the application of hotter water than good co coons. In Piedmont, where silk of the best quality is produced, the process of reeling has long been conducted by the employment of a machine similar to the drawing here given. A is a copper boiler about 18 inches long, and six inches deep, set in brickwork, so as to admit of a charcoal fire being made beneath it: if other fuel be used, a small flue or chimney must be added to carry away the smoke. B B is a stout wooden frame whereon the several working parts of the reel are supported. D represents the reel on which the silk is to be wound; a is the layer which directs the position of the threads in their passage to the reel; b c is the wheel-work which gives motion to this layer. The reel D is merely a wooden spindle, turned by a crank handle at one end, and having four arms mortised at each end within the frame. These arms support the four battens or rails on which the silk is wound. The rails, which are parallel to the axis, are placed at such a distance from it, that they may produce a skein of proper size by the winding of the silk upon them. They are usually so disposed as to pass through the space of one yard at each revolution. One of each of the two sets of arms is made with hinges to fold in the middle of its length, in order that the rail which these two arms support may fall in or approach the centre as occasion may require: this, by diminishing the size of the reel, allows the skeins of silk to be readily slipped off when the winding is completed. At the end opposite to the handle of the wooden spindle, and within the frame B, there is placed a wheel with twenty |