Slight departures from the perfect sphere, result in egg shapes, pear shapes, drop shapes, pendeloque, button shapes, etc. Some of these are valued quite as highly at the present time as the spherical pearls, and many of the most highly prized pearls in the world are of other than spherical form. Indeed, pearls of this kind are found of larger size than the perfectly round pearls. The egg-shaped pearl,[74] called “la Régente,”—one of the French crown jewels sold in May, 1887—weighed, as stated above, 337 grains. The great pear pearl described by Tavernier—“the largest ever discovered”—weighed about 500 grains. A button pearl received from Panama in 1906 weighed 216 grains. Wider departures from the spherical form result in cylindrical, conical, top-shaped, etc. Some pearls present the appearance of having been turned in a lathe with intricate tooling. Remarkable examples of these “turned pearls” have been found, competing in their circular perfection with the best work of a jeweler’s lathe. Many standard varieties of non-spherical, but normally shaped pearls, are recognized by the fishermen and the jewelers. For instance, in the nomenclature of the American fishermen, _bouton_, or button pearls are divided into “haystacks” and “turtle-backs,” according to the height of the projection. Also, certain imperfections result in distinguishing names: “bird’s-eye” refers to a pearl having a little imperfection on the best surface; “ring-arounds” have a dark or discolored ring about them; and “strawberries” have numerous minute projections on the surface. During its growth, a spherical pearl may come in contact with a foreign body, such as grit or a vegetable film, and the additional nacral layers envelop the adjacent matter until it is entirely concealed within the pearl, its position being recognized only by the excrescence on one side, and, with continued increase in size, even this may be almost overcome. [Illustration: ACTUAL SIZES OF PEARLS FROM ⅛ GRAIN TO 160 GRAINS ] Sometimes double, triple, or multiple pearls are formed; each of these may have a separate nucleus and grow independently for a time until they adjoin each other; continuing to grow, they become so united as to form a connected mass. The “Southern Cross” is a remarkable example of this. It appears to consist of seven nearly spherical pearls attached to one another in a straight line, and one projecting from each side of the second in the row, thus forming a Roman cross.[75] A few years ago, near Sharks Bay, on the coast of western Australia, a cluster was found containing about 150 pearls closely compacted. This cluster measured about one and a half inches in length, three quarters of an inch in breadth, and half an inch in thickness.