A paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 1693, mentions the collection of pearls from this shell, in the river Omagh, County Tyrone, in Ireland. “The poor people,” he says, “in the Summer months, go into the water, and some with their toes, some with wooden tongs, and some by putting a sharpened stick into the opening of the shell, take them up; and, although, by a common estimate, not above one shell in a hundred may have a pearl, and of these pearls not above one in a hundred be tolerably clear, yet a vast number of fair merchantable pearls, and too good for the apothecary, are offered for sale by those people every Summer assizes. Some gentlemen of the country make good advantage thereof, and myself, whilst there, saw one pearl bought for 50l. that weighed thirty-six carats, and was valued at 40l. A miller took out a pearl, which he sold for 4l. 10s. to a man that sold it for 10l., who sold it to the late Lady Glenanly for 30l., with whom I saw it in a necklace; she refused 80l. for it from the late Dutchess of Ormond.”
Isocardia cor. Anodonta Cygnæa.
The Heart-Shaped Isocardia,
([Isocardia cor].)
This shell, which is very common in the Mediterranean, where it goes by the name of the foolscap-shell, and the bullock’s heart shell, is rare in the British seas, but it is sometimes found on the Irish coast; it is the largest British bivalve shell.
The Wedge-Shaped Donax, ([Donax cuneata].)
There are nearly thirty species of Donax, all extremely beautiful; that represented in the engraving is of a whitish colour with red streaks: it is often met with in collections of Indian shells. One of these species is found on the English coasts, of a delicate white colour, and streaked with pink.
