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Ch. 4: Pearl-bearers, Marine and Fresh-water

Ch. 4: Pearl-bearers, Marine and Fresh-water Page of 341 Ch. 4: Pearl-bearers, Marine and Fresh-water Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
Marine Pearls.
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embraces a number of separate families, while these in their turn comprise numerous genera.
The family Aviculidœ embraces nearly all the true marine Pearl-bearers, or Pearl oysters. It takes its name from the genus Avicula ("a little bird") so named in consequence of the winged shape of the shell. The largest quantity of medium sized Pearls are derived from the Meleagrina fucata (Gould) but the largest Pearls' and mother-of-pearl shell from the Meleagrina margantiferà (Linnaeus.) Meleagrina is now commonly regarded as a sub-genus of Avicula, and the word is therefore often written within brackets following the name of the true genus, thus : Avicula {Meleagrina) margaritifera. Although a great number of Pearls are supplied by various other species, yet the larger quantity which the Meleagrina fucata produces, and the fine quality of Pearls as well as shell yielded by the Margaritifera, justify us in referring to them at some length, and adopting them as types of the Pearl-bearers. A description of them, therefore, will hold true of all the others, except in certain scientific points of difference, which are of more interest to the marine zoologist than to the lover of gems or to the general reader.
The Pearl-oyster, Meleagrina fucata, is much much smaller than the M, margaritifera ; seldom
Ch. 4: Pearl-bearers, Marine and Fresh-water Page of 341 Ch. 4: Pearl-bearers, Marine and Fresh-water
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