Meadow Cottage, Ealing.
[We have placed the grains forwarded by our Correspondent in the hands
of a skilful horticulturist; and will publish the result.--ED.]
_Nacar_ (Vol. v., p. 536.).--This word is not, I believe, a name
appropriated to any one particular shell, but is the term used for the
pearl-like substance which, in greater or smaller quantities, forms the
lining of many shells. This substance, frequently called mother-of-pearl,
exhibits in some species a beautiful play of colours, said to be due to a
particular arrangement of the particles. The words _naker_ and
_nacreous_--with _nacar_ Spanish, _nacchera_ Italian, and _nacre_
French--are given {596} in Webster's _Dictionary_, 2 vols. 4to., London
1832. The beard, or byssus, found in a few genera only, as _Avicula_,
_Mytilus_, _Pinna_, and some others, is strong and silky, formed of
numerous fibres produced from a gland near the foot of the soft animal, and
employed by it to form an attachment to rocks or other objects. In Sicily
this is sometimes made into gloves or stockings, more for curiosity than
use. A byssus now before me measures six inches in length, is delicately
soft and glossy, varying in colour from a rich dark brown to golden yellow,
and is nearly as fine as the production of the silk-worm. _Byssine_ is an
old name for fine silk.