[Class IV.
104
IVORY.
The same considerations necessarily limit the functionsof the Jury -with regard to the tusks of animals presenting |the modification of dental substance to which the term ;* ivory ’ is applied. Fine ivory, distinguished by the !decussating curved lines on the surfaces of transverse jfractures or sections of the tusk, is peculiar to the iAfrican and Asiatic elephant, among existing quadru- jpeds, and the best is obtained from the wild individuals; jdomestication of the elephant, in India at least, having 1been usually attended by deterioration of the length andquality of the tusks.
The finest specimens of elephants’ tusks are —a pairweighing 325 lbs. of the Elephas African as, obtainedfrom an animal killed near Lake Ngami, in SouthAfrica ; each tusk measures 8 feet Cinches in length,and 22 inches in basal circumference. A siugle tusk,weighing 110 lbs., from the same locality, is associatedwith them. These specimens are exhibited by Mr.Joseph Cawood (p. 952), to whom the Jury awardHonourable Mention.
Messrs. Fauntleroy and Sons, Potter’s Fields, TooleyStreet, exhibit an instructive collection of elephants’tusks in No. 135, pp. 205*, 206*. The largest of these isfrom the African elephant, and weighs 139 lbs. Va-rieties of tusks are also exhibited from the Gold Coast, theGaboon Piver, Zanzibar, the Cape of Good Hope ,Angola, Alexandria, Ceylon , and the East Indies. Themode of implantation of the tusks is illustrated by theskull of the African elephant. Of the tusks which exhibita dense texture, but have not the engine-turn markingsof true ivory, Messrs. Fauntleroy exhibit those of the‘narwhal,’ the ‘walrus,’ and the ‘hippopotamus;’ andthe Jury regard this instructive collection as deservingHonourable Mention.
Fine tusks of the Ceylon variety of elephant are shownin the collection from that country; and several examplesof the continental Asiatic kinds are exhibited in theIndian Department, among which may be noticed sometusks of the Siamese elephants, one of which weighs100 lbs., and shows a fine white compact kind of ivory.
Messrs. Buchanan and Law (p. 952) exhibit, from theCape , an elephants’ tusk weighing 103 lbs.; and Messrs.Hutton and Sons (p. 954), show ivory from Daliomy.
Torioise-siiell.
The substance, so called, consists of certain large horn-like epidermoid plates, which cover, in an imbricated oroverlapping manner, the carapace or hack-shell of themarine tortoises or turtles (Chtlone). The species whichafford the most valuable of these plates are—the ‘ Karet ’tortoises or imbricated turtles ( Chelone imbricata , Chelonecaretta), from which are obtained 5 large plates off themiddle of the carapace, and 4 large ones off each side;these plates, 13 in number, are technically called‘ blades; ’ 25 smaller plates are obtained from the marginof the carapace, which are called the ‘feet’ or ‘ noses,’in commerce. The other plates, collectively, are calledthe ‘head’ of the turtle.
Fine specimens of ‘ tortoise-shell ’ have been sent forexhibition from Trinidad by Lord Harris (p. 973); ofwhich, as well as of those sent from Labuan by Messrs.Hammond and Co. (p. 988), and from Ceylon (p. 938), theJury desire to make Especial Mention.
Pearls.
These precious substances are the result of an excre-tion in superimposed concentric laminie, of a peculiarlyfine and dense nacreous substance, which consists ofmembrane and carbonate of lime. The finest quality ofpearl is produced by the bivalve of the Indian Seas,called ‘ par excellence* the ‘pearl-oyster’ ( Meleayrinamaryaritifera ), fine specimens of which are exhibited inthe Indian and Ceylon collections.
Pearls of an inferior description, formed in a fresh-water bivalve (Unio maryaritifera), are exhibited underNo. 15, p. 122, Class I. by John Xelis, of Omagh ,county Tyrone, from specimens obtained from thedeepest parts of the river Stride, near Omagh . Similarpearls, also found in the Unio maryaritifera, from the
f river Ytlian, Aberdeenshire , are shown under No. 16 , p.j 122, Class 1. by Messrs. Cowie and Kae, of Ellon , Scot-j land. It is probable that the pearls from this source,i collected by the ancient Britons, may have given rise to! the statement by Tacitus in his ‘ Life of Agrieola,’ of pearls. “ not very orient, but pale and wan,” being among thej indigenous products of Great Britain . Pearls, similar toi those from the Unio nutryarilifera, are exhibited under| No. 41, j). 1352, Sweden and Norway , by Torstruf,from Christiana.
In the Indian Collection are shown most of the shellswhich yield the manufacturer the finest kinds of nacre ;these are the Meleayrina maryaritifera, llaliotis gigas tJJuliotis iris, and a large species of Turbo, which shellsare known in commerce as fiat-shells, ear-shells, greensnail-shells, buffalo-shells, Bombay shells. The mother-of-pearl is the internal or nacreous layer of such shells.
Fine specimens of some of these shells, from Singapore and Manilla, especially the great Meleayrina and llaliotis ,are exhibited by Messrs. Fauntleroy, under No. 135,pp. 205, 206; and by Mr. Banks , under No. 287, p. 626,Class XXII. in connexion with the manufacture ofmother-of-pearl buttons. As no specimens, however, ofthis raw material exhibit improved qualities as theresult of human skill or ingenuity, the Jury limit them-selves to the Honourable Mention of the largest and mostinstructive collection—which will be found in the IndianDepartment.
C.OIEO-SilELLS AND CORALS.
Specimens of cameo-shells ( Cassis rufd ), species ofCypraa , and of shells used as ornaments by certainnatives of India , with the rude but efficient instrumentsfor cutting them, are shown in the Indian Collection.
Shells adapted for cameo-cutting are dense, thick, andconsist of three layers of differently-coloured shell-material. In the Uassis raja each layer is composed ofmany very thin plates—in other words, is “laminated”—the laminin being perpendicular to the plane of themain layer: each lamina consists of a series of elongatedprismatic cells, adherent by their long sides. The la-mina? of the outer and inner layers are parallel to thelines of growth, while those of the middle layer are atright angles to them. In the cowries (Cypraa) there isau additional layer, which is a duplicatureof the nacreouslayer formed wfieu the animal has attained its full growth.
One of the finest examples of the red coral (Corulliitmrubrum) is exhibited by Messrs. Paravagua and Casella,under No. 84, p. 683, Class XXXIII., in connexion withcameo-work and carving in coral. The Jury desire toaward to these exhibitors Honourable Mention for thebranch of natural rough coral above referred to.
The Jury desire, also, to make Honourable Mention ofthe coral exhibited under No. 1, p. 949, MaitlandMines, from the Cape of Good Hope ; and of the spe-cimens of coral shown by Messrs. Rkffaelli and Son,under No. 69, p. 1297, Tuscany . Specimens of red coralare exhibited in the collection from Algiers . A fine col-lection of both corals and madrepores, including theblack flexible coral ( Goryonia) is shown by U. Tuckerand Co. (Bermuda ', for which the Jury award Honour-able Mention.
Specimens of cameo-shells, of shells used as ornamentsby certain natives of India , with the rude but efficientinstruments for cutting the shells, and several kinds ofcoral and madrepore, are shown in the Indian collection.
Sponges.
Of the numerous varieties of the common flexiblesponge ( Sponyia officinalis', shown in different depart-ments of the Great Exhibition , the Jury select first, for• Honourable Mention, the specimens exhibited in Tunis ,
| by Solyman Essaddy, under the Nos. 73, 74, and 75,
; p. 1415. They likewise desire to distinguish, in thej same manner, the samples of sponges shown by B. Pav-; lides, No. 12, p. 1402, Greece , from the Gulf of Nauplia ;j the sponges shown by MM. Thie.me-Widt.markter andPueschel, Saxony , No. 4, p. 1104; and those shown byj F. Winkler, Prussia, No. 31, p. 1049.