The sepia of the artist comes from a mollusk, and is the fossil or
extant ink-bag of a cephalopod or squid, while the cuttle-fish bone is
used for a variety of purposes. In the islands of the Pacific the young
of the pearly nautilus are strung upon strings and sold for $25 and $20
as necklaces. The tritons are in fair demand, and many tons of cowries
are sent to Europe yearly, while the shipment of a thick-lipped strombus
in one year to Liverpool amounted to 300,000. The rich coloring of the
haliotis is used for inlaying art furniture. From the pinna, silk of a
peculiar quality is obtained. It is the byssus or cable of the animal.
The threads are extremely fine, and equal in diameter throughout their
entire length. It is first cleaned with soap and water, and dried by
rubbing through the hands, and finally passed through combs of bone,
iron, or wood, of different sizes, so that a pound of the material in
the rough gives only about three ounces of pure thread. It is mixed with
a third of real silk and spun into gloves, stockings, etc., having a
beautiful yellow hue. The articles made from it are, however, not in
general use. A pair of gloves from pinna silk would cost $1.50, and
stockings about $3. Fine specimens of such work can be seen in the
British Museum.
Though not of animal origin, amber is one of the choicest vegetable
productions used in the arts. It is the fossil gum of pines. Great beds
of it occur at various points in Europe. On the Prussian seaboard it is
mined, and often washes ashore. In 1576 a piece of amber was found
that weighed thirteen pounds, and for which $5,000 was refused. In the
cabinet of the Berlin Museum there is a piece weighing eighteen pounds.
Ambergris, from which perfumery is made, is a secretion taken from the
intestines of the whale, and a piece purchased from the King of Tydore
by the East India Company is reported to have cost $18,000. Whales'
teeth, the tusks of elephants, and those of the walrus and narwhal, are
all used. Elephants' feet are cut off at a convenient length, richly
upholstered, and used as seats; the great toe-nails, when finely
polished, giving the novel article of furniture an attractive and unique
appearance.
It is probably not generally known that the web of certain spiders has
been used. Over 150 years ago, Le Bon, of France, succeeded in weaving
the web material into delicate gloves. Prof. B.G. Wilder investigated
the question thoroughly, and was a firm believer that the web of the
spider had a commercial value, but as yet this has not been realized.
It would be difficult to find an animal that does not in some way
contribute to the useful or decorative arts.--_C.F.H., in N.Y. Post_.
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A catalogue, containing brief notices of many important scientific
papers heretofore published in the SUPPLEMENT, may be had gratis at this
office.
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