The first section of the bill provides:

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to take or catch, by any means whatever, in any of the navigable waters within the jurisdiction of this State, any mussel, fresh-water clam or shell-fish from the first day of October to the first day of April (both dates inclusive) of each succeeding year.

The bill imposes upon any one who violates these provisions a fine of not less than $25, nor more than $100, or imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding one year, or else both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.

Another section provides that any one not a resident of Illinois, who takes clams, shell-fish, or mussels, without procuring a license, shall be subject to a fine of not less than $50, nor more than $100, or to imprisonment for one year, or to both penalties. The licenses may be procured on application and payment of $50 for each vessel to be employed, and they expire on the first day of October following their issuance. The amount received for these licenses is to be turned over to the State Treasurer at the end of each month and placed to the credit of the State Fish Protective Fund. No boat having more than two bars, each not exceeding sixteen feet in length, shall be used for this fishery, and the space separating the hooks on these bars is not to be less than eight inches.

Miss Carl, the artist who painted the portraits of the Empress and that of the Dowager Empress of China, states that she wears a diamond ring. When she shows this she apologizes for wearing it, stating that it had been given to her by the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, saying that she, herself, sees no beauty in the sparkle of the diamond; for her there is more beauty in the soft, quiet tones of the pearl than in the brilliancy of the diamond.

During the Boxer War in China, the looting was carried on to so great an extent, that a French hotel-keeper is said to have obtained a basket of pearls, which he bought for a trifle, and which are said to have netted him very nearly $1,000,000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY[[562]]

Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Ratisbon

Le libro de le pietre preciose e de le loro u(ir)tude (Old Italian version of the De lapidibus). 14th century MS., vellum, 44ff. 4to. In the library of George F. Kunz.