CLOTH OF GOLD The anchor by which pen shells are held fast to rocks on the sea bottom deserves special mention. More familiar to us is the byssus of black threads by which mussels hang in clusters to to bridge and wharf timbers below the water line. Pen shells exude a gummy secretion through a sieve of much finer holes. When exposed to the air this rope is found to be composed of 402 The Pen Shells. Sea Wings. Fin Shells golden threads of silky texture and extreme fineness. Long ago it was spun and woven into cloth by the people of Mediterranean countries, where Pinna nobilis is abundant. Robes of marine silk were much desired articles of commerce, under the name " taren tine." A pair of gloves could be folded away in a walnut shell, and a scarf of considerable size in a snuff-box, so fine and supple were the delicate threads.
Fishermen, especially off the Sicilian coast, rake these mol lusks off the rocks in considerable quantities. The byssus is torn off and sold to country women who wash it with soap and card it. In this crude process, much is lost. The threads are spun and woven into fabrics so soft as to rival the finest silks.
Nowadays this cloth is manufactured in Palermo and Lucca, but chiefly for its rarity. Shawls, scarfs, gloves and stockings, may be seen in great exhibitions as high examples of textile art.
The web is of a beautiful yellow brown, resembling the burnished gold hue which adorns the backs of some splendid beetles.—Simmonds.