BYSSUS

a kind of fine flax and the linen made from it, was used in India and likewise in Egypt at to a very early date. In this latter country it was the used in embalming, and the mummies are still found wrapped in it. As an article of dre it was worn only by the rich. Dives, in Christ*s parable (Luke xvi. 19), was clothed in by ns, and it is mentioned his among the riches of fallen Babylon (Rev. xviii 12>. B^ us was f ormeriy erroneously considered as a fine kmd of cotton. The fine stuff mantif actored fram still or the by us is called more particularly nndon, Foster derives the word byuva from the Coptic. By oa was also used by the ancients, and is still used, to signify the hair or thread-like substance (called beard)^ with which the different kinds of sea-mu els fasten themselves to the rocks. The Pinita mariiMi, particularly, is distinguished by the length and the silky finene of its beivd, from which very durable dotiha, gloves, and stockings are still mannfactored in a Sicily and Calabria. Various articles made of byasos appeared at the Great Exhibition in 1851.