A sailor youth, bound for the Southern Seas, brought home to his betrothed a bunch of that pretty coralline (Fig. 24) known to the unlearned as the “ mermaid’s lace.” 20 The girl, a worker in points, struck by the graceful nature of the seaweed, with its small white knots united, as it were, by a “ bride, imitated it with her needle, and after several unsuccessful trials produced that delicate guipure which before long became the taste of all Europe. 21 The Venetian point in relief, the “ punto a fogliami ” (French, Fig, 25. wmmmmmmmmmms1 Venetian point in relief. “ a ramages ”) of the pattern books, is the richest and most com plicated of all points. All the outlines in high relief are formed by means of cottons placed as thick as may be required to raise them. Sometimes the pattern is in double and triple relief, an infinity of beautiful stitches are introduced into the flowers, which are surrounded by a pearl of geometric regularity, 20 Ilalimedia opuntia. 21 The fringed edging to a Venetian collar in the Dupont-Auberville col lection in the International Exhibition has great resemblance to the mermaid’s coralline.