That takes the prey, when this has given the sign;
From hence this crab, above his fellows famed,
By ancient Greeks was Pinnotores named.
It is said that the pinna fastens itself so strongly to the rocks, that the men employed in fishing for it are obliged to use considerable force to break the tuft of threads by which it is secured fifteen, twenty, and sometimes even thirty feet below the surface of the sea.
It is fished up in the Gulf of Tarentum by the Pernonico, which consists of two semicircular bars of iron fastened together at the ends, at one of which is a wooden pole, at the other a ring and cord. The fishermen conduct their boat over the place, where the pinna is seen through the clear water, let down the Pernonico, and, having loosened the pinna by embracing it with the iron bars and twisting it round, draw it up to the boat. The pinna is also obtained by diving. Poli, in his splendid work on the Sicilian Testacea (Parma, 1795, folio,) gives beautiful representations of the several species and especially of the Pinna Nobilis[187]. The following description of submarine scenery and operations, is so vivid and pleasing that we quote it at length.
[187] The figure (Fig. 7.) of the Pinna Nobilis, [Plate III.], is reduced from Plate XXXIV. in vol. ii.
Pinnis hujusmodi abundant præ cæteris litus Trinacriæ, sinus Tarentinus, oraque maritima Crateris Neapolitani, potissimum ultra Promontorium Pausilypi. Equidem persummâ adficimur animi jucunditate, quoties illarum piscationis recordamur, quam vere jam inchoato inibi facere iterum iterumque consuevimus. Est ad Insulam Nisitæ, quâ illa ad septentrionem vergit, respicitque contra Pausilypi Promontorium, amœnissimi maris plaga, quoddam maris ocium. Ibi inter ingentes, pulcherrimosque marinarum stirpium saltus, quibus plaga illa undique virescit, oculosque animumque recreat, Pinnarum greges sponte gignuntur; quæ mari tranquillo, umbrisque ab insulæ summitate cadentibus, ab iis qui cymbis insistunt, ad triginta fermè pedum altitudinem, subrectæ, inque fundo arenoso defixæ perspicuè cerni possunt. Urinatores igitur, sese mari submergentes, illis arripiendis destinantur. Quoniam vero, ne reiteratis quidem ictibus, ab arenâ, ubi consitæ sunt, educi queunt; arena etenim, et pondere suo et altissimâ aquarum mole sibi incumbente fortiter stipata, urinatorum conatibus validè resistit; hi maris fundum nacti, ibique veluti in solo sedentes, arenam Pinnæ circumjectam manibus averrunt, Pinnamque deinceps ambabus manibus comprehensam divellere conantur. Et si diutius, quam par est, spiritum cohibere nequeunt, ad summa æquorum ascendunt, suberibusque aquæ innatantibus inibi de industriâ positis innituntur, donec tandem aëris haustu recreati, maris fundum iterum petant, operamque penitus absolvant. v. ii. p. 230, 231.
This species of Pinna is especially abundant on the shores of Sicily, in the Gulf of Taranto, and in the Bay of Naples, particularly beyond the Cape of Posilipo. It always fills my mind with the greatest delight to recollect the manner of fishing for it, in which I have often taken a part at that spot in the commencement of spring. On the northern shore of the Isle of Nisida opposite Posilipo, is a most agreeable expanse of water, where the sea appears to be ever at rest. Here, amidst those vast and most beauteous submarine forests, with which the coast is decorated in every direction so as at once to charm the mind and refresh the eye, the Pinna grows spontaneously in large groups, and in calm water, when the shadows fall from the summit of the island, is clearly seen by persons in boats growing nearly upright and fixed in the sandy bottom at the depth of about thirty feet. There are divers, whose business it is to bring it up. But, since it cannot be loosened even by repeated blows, (for the sand firmly resists the attempts of the diver, being supported by its own weight and by the super-incumbent water,) in these circumstances he sits down at the bottom of the sea, brushes away with his fingers the earth which encompasses the shell, and then endeavors to pull it up by seizing it with both hands. If he is thus likely to be detained at the bottom for a longer time than he can hold his breath, he ascends to the surface, supports himself upon corks, which are in readiness for him, and, when he has sufficiently recovered himself by breathing, he again dives to the bottom to complete his task.
The specimens of Pinna in the British Museum show not only the tuft, but also the pearls and the mother of pearl. Poli found in one specimen of the Pinna Nobilis no less than twenty pearls, of which he has given figures in his splendid work. Pliny (l. ix. c. 35.) mentions the practice of diving for the Pinna in the Mediterranean Sea in order to obtain pearls from it: and Athenæus (l. iii. p. 93 Casaub.) has preserved extracts from two historical writers, one of whom accompanied Alexander on his Indian expedition, and who informs us, that the Pinna was procured in the Indian seas, by diving and for the sake of the pearls.
The Italians call the fibres Lana Pesce or Lana Penna, i. e. Fish Wool, or Pinna Wool. It is not equally good in all places. When the bottom of the sea is sandy, the shell with its bunch of fibres may be easily extracted, and they are silky and of a fine color. But in rushy and muddy bottoms so fast do they stick as to be generally broken in drawing up, and are of a blackish color without gloss.