Byssus

bis′us, n. a fine yellowish flax, and the linen made from it: the bundle of fine silky filaments by which many shellfish attach themselves to rocks, .: a genus of cryptogamic plants of a silky fibrous texture found on decaying wood, in mines, ., and other dark places.— adjs. By if′erous , bearing or having a by us; By ′ine , made of fine linen. [L.—Gr. by os , a fine flaxen or silky substance.]