Pvn H,i I'UitlS

102 MYTILID^E.
requires five or six hours' stewing, and then is not so
tender as a scallop. The fibrous particles which com-
pose the shell are crystalline, and very beautiful objects
for the microscope.
Mr. Spence Bate informs me that
the trawlers at Plymouth call these shells "eaper-
longers," and that they avoid the Pinna-ground for fear
of their nets being torn. The shells are described as
standing upright on their narrow end, and as bearing
some resemblance to trees in a thick forest. The word
"caperlonger " appears to be a corruption of Cappa lunga,
which name the Pinna is known in the Mediter-
by
ranean. So many
of our men-of-war have been at
Naples, that the familiarity of Plymouth
such Italian words is easily explained.
seamen with
Owing to the variableness of its sculpture and solidity,
this species has received many names from British con-
chologists, viz. borealis, pectinata, fragilis, muricata,
ingenSy l