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Ch. 8: Genesis of the Pearl

Ch. 8: Genesis of the Pearl Page of 358 Ch. 8: Genesis of the Pearl Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
GENESIS OF PEARLS
called the black shell. In others the nacre is white to the edge. The iridescence of the white shell generally shows more play of color than that of the black. The white shell is usually somewhat flatter and broader than the black, and the epidermis is light yellowish-brown. This variety is found in great abun­dance on the northern and western coasts of Australia. The yellow, greenish and grayish shells (these colors refer to the edge of the lining), are similar in every way, but inferior, the yellow being the best of the three.
The shell lining of a common form of the unio, or fresh water mussel pictured at page 146, like that of the meleagrina, shows little iri­descence except at the edges outside the pallial lines, where the nacre is comparatively thin, and at the striated surface of the scar or bed of the adductor muscle. In quality of color and luster it is inferior to the nacre of the sea fish, the white being more chalky in appearance and the luster less pearly. The material of which the shell is composed and its construction are however almost identical with that of the salt­water mollusk. In fact all shells are made of
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Ch. 8: Genesis of the Pearl Page of 358 Ch. 8: Genesis of the Pearl
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