StNicholas [serial] . dend, which, being contrary to all laws of gravity,could scarcely be successfully done at all, did notthe shell throw out from its narrow ball a multi-tude of silken cords, which serve at once as an-chor ropes and stays, and hold it gently but firmly,like a ship safely riding at anchor in some shel-tering harbor, swaying gently backward andforward with every little eddy or current, butalways kept from coming into too violent contactwith unfriendly rocks whose hard and ragged edges it could but ill withstand. Way back inthe days of the mighty Roman Empire, whenItaly ruled
StNicholas [serial] . dend, which, being contrary to all laws of gravity,could scarcely be successfully done at all, did notthe shell throw out from its narrow ball a multi-tude of silken cords, which serve at once as an-chor ropes and stays, and hold it gently but firmly,like a ship safely riding at anchor in some shel-tering harbor, swaying gently backward andforward with every little eddy or current, butalways kept from coming into too violent contactwith unfriendly rocks whose hard and ragged edges it could but ill withstand. Way back inthe days of the mighty Roman Empire, whenItaly ruled the world, the Pina furnished itsglossy silk to the noblest of the land, for thenthere was a rule that emperors and kings alonein all the realm might wear robes wrought fromthe sea silk. In the far south of sunny Italy, thePina is still dragged from its watery haunts androbbed of its silken root or byssus, as it should becalled. Then these roots, after undergoing a littlewashing and drying, are sent away to the quaint. PINA NOBILIS THAT PRODUCES SEA SILK. old town of Taranto, where, mixed with a verylittle true silk to give extra strength, they arewoven into curious caps and socks and gloves,beautiful, bright and soft as one could wish tosee. But unfortunately the silk of the Pina isvery expensive indeed, and it is only in the enter-prising tourist who espies its beauty as he wan-ders half wonderingly through the fast decayingstreets of old Taranto that the poor Italianweaver finds a buyer for his soft, brown, glisten-ing sea silk. Caryl D. Haskins. 176 NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS [Dec, 5=
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
