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THEOPHRASTUS ON STONES
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action of the wind in blowing away lighter sand particles would tend to leave behind the large grains and pebbles. It is probable that the fragmentary rock material collected in this manner consisted of different kinds of colored quartz.
36. Among choice stones there is also the one called the pearl.
The high value placed upon pearls by the ancients is evident from the statements of all early authors who touch on the subject. Pliny, for example, begins his elaborate account of the pearl247 by saying that it holds the highest position among all objects of value, though in another place248 he ranks it second among the precious stones.
The adjective διαφανής has been translated as "translucent," since "transparent," the usual meaning, is not appropriate to die pearl. Salmasius thought that the negative ού should be added so that the meaning would be "not transparent." Hill accepted this reading, but Wimmer did not. It does not seem necessary to change the text.
The eight Greek words in brackets (πλην . . . €νμβγίθη<;) are not in the manuscripts or in Aldus but were taken by Schneider from the text of Athenaeus (III, 93), where they are attributed to Theophrastus.
36. pinna. This name is now assigned to a genus of large bivalve mollusks which inhabit warm seas. The species common in the Mediterranean, to which Theophrastus is probably referring, was the first that was known, and so became the type for the genus. The Mediterranean pinna attains a length of about two feet. DArcy Thompson includes it in his list of Greek fishes under πίννη or πίνα (Latin pinna or per no), but he does not give an English name for it. He says that it is a pre-Hellenic word.249
36. it is produced in India and certain islands in the Red Sea. Pearl fisheries are still operated today in the Red Sea, the Persian
2*ΠΧ, 106.
248 χχχνιι, 62.
249 A Glossary of Greek Fishes (St. Andrews University Publications, No. 45; Oxford University Press, 1947), p. 200.
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