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LIBRARY
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF MOLLUSKS
IN THE

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY

Gift of:
KENNETH J, BOSS
DEC 81

THE EDIBLE MOLLUSKS

OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

-

at del._G.B Sowerby, lith incent Brooks, Imp.

1&2. Helix Pomatia_Apple or Vine snail

3&4. Helix Nemoralis_Wood snail
5. Helix Aspersa_Common Garden snail.
6. "Helix Pisana__the Banded snail.

THE

EDIBLE MOLLUSKS

OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

WITH

RECIPES FOR COOKING THEM.

BY

M.S. LOVE.LL.

‘‘ And the recipes and different modes of dressing
I am prepared to teach the world for nothing,
If men are only wise enough to learn.”

Ray. 90. 3% ape Atheneus, Deipnos. BE. iii. c, 69.
> ‘ . eae Sr ~ Sh Ste. ;

LONDON:
REEVE & CO., 6, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

1867.

a)
hk eal

Oe lee ge ae,

PREFACE.

In these days, when attention has been so much di-
rected towards the cultivation of the common kinds of
eatable shell-fish, it 1s surprising that the importance
of certain others for food has been hitherto almost en-
tirely overlooked. We understand the good qualities
of oysters, cockles, and a few other kinds; but some
equally nutritious (which are universally eaten on the
Continent) are seldom, if ever, seen in our markets, or
are only used locally as food, and the proper modes of
rs cooking them are scarcely known. TI have therefore
™ endeavoured to call attention to all the eatable species
= common on our coasts, and also to those which, though

oS not found here in abundance, might be cultivated as

—

easily as oysters, and form valuable articles of food.

M. S. Lovett.

CONTENTS.

HELICIDE .
CARDIADE .
SOLENIDE .
CYPRINIDX
MYTILIDZ
OSTREADZE .
PECTINIDZ.
HALIOTIDZ.
PATELLID
MURICID2E .
LITTORINID®
AVICULIDA 5 ee eg eo ee fe
VENERID# .
TELLINIDA.
MACTRIDZ .
MYADZ .
PHOLADIDZ
SEPIADZ

CIDARIDZ

LIST OF WORKS REFERRED TO OR CONSULTED

NENGE Eiken o's vst lin’) 0° fet cot dy Ce la Ses be

114,
119
124,
136
139
143
150
152
155
157
163
176

18]

189

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Puate I. (#rontispiece.) |
1 & 2. Helix pomatia.—Apple or Vine Snail.
3 & 4. Helix nemoralis.— Wood Snail.

5. Helix aspersa.—Common Garden Snail.
6. Helix Pisana.—Banded Snail.
Puate II. 1. Cardium edule-—Common Cockle.
2. Cardium rusticum.—Red-nose Cockle.
Puate ITI. 1. Mya truncata.—Gaper.
2

. Solen siliqua.—Razor-shell.
Pratt LV. Tsocardia Cor.—Heart-shell, or Oxhorn Cockle.
Prate V. 1. Mytilus edulis.—Common Mussel.
2. Ostrea edulis.—Oyster.
Puate VI. Pinna pectinata.—Sea-wing.
Puate VII. 1. Tapes pullastra.—Pullet.
2. Venus verrucosa.—Warty Venus.
Puate VIII. 1. Psammobia vespertina.—The Setting Sun.

2. Mactra solida.—Trough-shell.

Pruate TX. 1. Pecten opercularis.—Painted Scallop.
2. Pecten maximus.—Scallop.

PrateE X. 1. Haliotis tuberculata.—Ormer, or Ear-shell.
2. Patella vulgata.—Limpet.

Prate XI. 1. Buccinum undatum.—Whelk.

2 & 3. Littorina littorea.—Periwinkle.
Puate XIJ. — Pholas dactylus.—Piddock or Clam.

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

SNAILS, COCKLES, RAZOR-SHELLS, ETC.

Fam. HELICID.
HELIX.—SNAIL.

Hetix pomatia, Linneus. Apple Snail.—Shell glo-
bular, strong, large, covered with coarse longitudinal
strie, 5 volutions, convex; spire short, and the apex
blunt; pale cream-colour, with rufous bands; the colu-
mella arched ; and of a pale purplish-pink ; the outer lip
dark reddish-brown; mouth almost round.

Heutrx aspersa, Linneus. Garden Snail.—Shell
opaque, nearly globular, 4 to 43 volutions, the last much
larger, occupying nearly two-thirds of the shell; mouth
nearly ovate; spire short, with a blunt point; the outer
lid white, with dark-brown bands or mottlings, subject
to great variety of markings; epidermis yellowish-green,
and thick.

HeLix NeMorALIs, Linnzus. Wood Snail.—Shell im-
perforate, globular, whorls 5, more or less covered with

minute spiral strie ; mouth pyriform; inner margin of
B

2 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

lip of a rich, dark chocolate-brown ; in variety hortensis
mouth has a white lip. Colours various; yellow, yellow
with brown bands, pink, pmk and brown, dark choco-
late, with darker bands of the same colour, and white.

Heurx pisana, Linneus. The Banded Snail.—Shell
rather depressed and nearly globular, of a pale yellow-
ish-white, with spiral bands of a dark chocolate-brown,
which are not always joined together, giving the shell a
speckled or streaky appearance ; whorls 5 or 53 ; mouth
pink, and rather large. Varieties nearly white, and also
others with the bands of a chestnut-colour, and scarcely
to be distinguished.

Helix pomatia is the largest of our land snails, being
about 12 inches in breadth and length, and is found in
Kent, Surrey, Gloucestershire, and other southern coun-
ties ; and a specimen was met with some time since in a
lane near Exmouth, which I believe to be a new locality for
it. Some curiousreversed specimens are occasionally found
in France, and one variety particularly struck me, which
was exhibited in the Museum at the Jardin des Plantes,
in Paris. It was something the shape of a Buccinum,
the whorls rounded and swollen, and six in number. A
beautiful white variety is also found, but rarely, in the
environs of Clermont. It is supposed by some to have
been originally introduced into England by Sir Kenelm
Digby, as food or medicine for his wife, who was suf-
fering from consumption; others say that the Romans
introduced it; but Mr. Jeffreys believes it to be indi-
genous, and observes (in his ‘ British Conchology”’)
“that it is not found in many parts of England and
Wales where the Romans built cities or had important
military stations.”

Archeologists often find snail-shells in great abun-

HELICID#.—SNAIL. 3

dance, however, in excavating on the sites of Roman
stations, and at Lymne, in Kent (Portus Lemanis),
Mr. Wright has seen them dug up in masses almost as
large as ordinary buckets, and completely embedded to-
gether.* In France also empty shells of the apple
snail have been met with amongst the ruins of Roman
villas, in the neighbourhood of Auch, Agen, and in Pro-
vence; and in the Danish “kjékkenméddings,” Helix
nemoralis has been found in small quantities.

As a medicine, snails were recommended for other
diseases besides consumption, and Helix aspersa, the
common garden snail, was generally used.

In a quaint old book, entitled ‘A Rich Storehouse
or Treasurie for the Diseased, wherein are many ap-
proved medecines for divers and sundrie diseases which
have been longe hidden, and not come to light before
this time; first set forth for the benefit of the poorer
sorte of people that are not of abilitie to goe to the Phy-
sicians,’ by Master Raiph Bower, we find:—“ Snales 7
which bee in shells, beat together with bay salt and
mallowes, and laid to the bottomes of your feet, and to ~
the wristes of your hands, before the fit commeth, ap-
peaseth the ague.” Again:—“'Take 20 garden snailes,
and beate them (shelles and all) in a morter, untill you
perceiue them to be come to a salue; then spread a little
thereof upon a linnen cloath, and lay it to the place
grieued, and when one plaister is dry, then take that of,
and put on another, and it will both heale the sore place
and draw it.” For corns, he recommends “ blacke sope
and snailes, of each a like quantitie, stampe them togi-
ther, and make a plaister thereof, and spread it upon a
piece of fine linnen cloth, or else upon a piece of white

* ‘The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon.’
B2

4, EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Leather, and lay it upon the corne, and it will take it
cleane away within 7 dayes space.

“ An other soueraigne Medecine for a Web in the eye.
—Take a good quantitie of snailes with their shells upon
them, and wash them very well, and then distill them in
a common Stillatorie; then take of the galles of Hares,
Red Currail, and Suger-candie, and mingle them toge-
ther with the said water, and then distill them againe;
then take the same water, and put it into a glasse or
viall, and when you will use it, take a drop thereof, and
put it into your eyes both morning and evening, and it
will help you.”

Dr. Fulier, in his ‘ Pharmacopeeia,’ recommends snails
in scorbutic affections, and gives the following recipe for
a consumption :—

“ Snail-water Pectoral.—Take snails beaten to a mash
with their shells 3 pound; crum of white bread, new-
baked, 12 ounces; nutmeg, 6 drams; ground-ivy, 6
handfulls ; whey, 3 quarts; distill it in a cold still, with-
out burning. If I would have this water not so abso-
lutely cold, I add brandy half a pint or a pint. This
water humects, dilutes, supplies, tempers, nourishes,
comforts, and therefore is highly conducive in hectic
consumptive emaciations.”

In Dr. John Quincy’s ‘ Pharmacopeeia Officinalis, or
~acomplete English Dispensatory,’ are the following :—

“ Decoctum Limacum, or decoction of snails.—Take
garden snails, cleansed from their shells, no. 12; red
cows’ milk, new, two pounds; boil to a pound ; and add
rose-water, an ounce; sugar-candy, half-an-ounce.

“Tt will be very difficult to boil this so long as to
waste one-half, because it will be apt both to run over
and burn to the bottom, and therefore must be stirred

HELICIDH.—SNAIL. 5

all the while; this quantity is ordered to be drank every
morning, and is a noble restorative in consumptions, es-
pecially for young people.”

“ Decoctum Antiphthisicum, a Decoction against con-
sumptions.—Take ox-eye daisy flowers, dried, a handful ;
snails, washed clean, numb. 3; candied eryngo-root, half
an ounce; pearl-barley, 2 ounces: boil in spring-water
from a pound to half a pound, and then strain for use.

“This brings a supply of such soft and inoffensive
nourishment, as gives no trouble to a weak constitution,
and therefore is of service in consumptions, hectic fevers,
etc. etc. The patient must drink 4 ounces of this
warm, with an equal quantity of milk, twice a day.”

In Ireland the snail or “shellimidy”’? was recom-
mended for many diseases, and “‘a water distilled from
shell-snails in canary wine, in the month of May, isa
great restorative in consumptions; also strengthens the
liver; outwardly applied it is a cosmetic; it beautifies
the face, and the volatile oil and spirit extracted from
snails resist poison, open all manner of obstructions,
cure the pleurisy, asthma, most disorders of the lu gs,
and, after a wonderful manner, the consumption. Dose
of the volatile salt, from grains 6 to 12; of the spirit
from 30 to 40 drops.’’*

The following recipes are from an old manuscript
book; but though snails might be tolerated, I doubt
any person having sufficient courage to try them with
the addition of earthworms !

“ For a Consumption.—Take 12 snails, better house
snails, and 12 earthworms, clean washed ; boil them in a
pint of new milk to half a pint, then pour it on 1 ounce
of eryngo-root. Take some every night and morning.”

* ‘Zoologia Medicinalis Hibernica,’ by John Keogh.

6 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

“ Mock Asses’ Milk.—One pound of snails layed in
salt and water for 2 days, and then cleaned and washed,
a quarter of a pound of barley, 3 pennyworth of eryngo-
root; boil all the above together till they become a jelly,
and let them be strained off. Half a pint night and
morning for a grown person, and } of a pint for a child.
It must be taken warm, and a httle milk and sugar
added after it is warmed. It is an excellent remedy for
consumption and any weakness.”

“ For a Consumption.—24 garden snails, 2 sheeps’
trotters, half an ounce of comfrey-root, one quart of
spring-water, a quart of milk ; boil all together till re-
duced to pple the TRARY 3 take a cup of this night and
morning.’

“ For a Swelling on the Joints.—Take 3 handfulls of
shell snails (off a rabbit-warren), pound them very fine,
and mix them with some new milk (not too thin); put
them between two pieces of fine linen cloth, and apply
them on the part. This is to be applied once a day, or
as often as it gets dry.”

A modern authority, Francatelli, gives the following
recipe in his ‘ Cook’s Guide ’:—

Mucilaginous Broth.—Put a cut-up chicken, a pound
of veal cutlet, and a calf’s foot into a stewpan, with 3
piuts of water, boil and skim; then add a dozen cray-
fish and a pint of garden snails, both bruised raw in a
mortar; add also a handful of balm, burrage and chervil,
3 ounces of prepared Iceland moss, and a small quan-
tity of salt. The broth must boil very gently by the
side of the fire for about two hours without much re-
duction, and when done is to be strained into a basin
for use.

Note.—-This is a powerful demulcent, and is much in

HELICIDA.—SNAIL. 7

use in France in cases of phthisis, catarrh, bronchitis,
etc. etc.

Oil of Black Snails—Spanish Cure for Consumption.
—Make a flannel bag of a triangular shape (like a jelly
bag), fit the corner into a wide-mouthed bottle, fill it
with black snails in the hottest time of the year; tie up
the mouth, and suspend bottle and bag on a wall, the
hottest you can find. The proper place is the sunny
angle of a wall where the south and west sun fall longest.
The snails will give out a larger quantity of frothy liquid,
_ which will drain into the bottle: cork it close for use,
and give a teaspoonful at a time, three or four times a
day, in milk or any other liquid.

The common garden snail, Helix aspersa, also gives out
a frothy liquid which might be collected in the same
manner, and used with benefit by consumptive patients.
The friend who kindly gave me the above recipe tells
me that these black snails resemble H. aspersa, but the
colour is much darker, and at a distance looks almost
black. In an old English medical book, date 1756,
syrup of snails is recommended for coughs, weaknesses,
etc., and is made by hanging snails up in a bag, with
some sugar, by which means the syrup drops into a ves-
sel placed to receive it.

Popular Spanish Cure for the Headache.—Make a
poultice of bruised snails. They must be broken up
with their shells and put into a piece of linen folded 4
times so as to make it thick, dip it in brandy, and squeeze
it tolerably dry; then apply it to the forehead.

M. Figuier remembers when studying botany in the
garden of the School of Medicine, as a youth, at Mont-
pellier, seeing the celebrated tenor singer, M. Laborde,
every morning partake of live snails, as he was suffering

=X

8 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

from a weak chest. M. Figuier assisted in finding the
snails in the holes in the garden wall, and under leaves,
and M. Laborde crushed the mollusks with a stone, pick-
ing off the pieces of broken shells, then rolling the fish
in powdered sugar swallowed them. The remedy was
evidently efficacious, as twenty years later M. Laborde
still held his position as tenor, and sang at the theatre
at Brussels and also at the opera in Paris.*

In the ‘ Meddygon Myddvai,’ published by the Welsh
MSS. Society, the following recipes are found :—

For an Impostume (whitlow).—Take a snail out of its
shell, and bruising it small, pound it into a plaster and
apply it to the finger; it will ripen and break it, and it
should then be dressed like any other wound. For “a
patient whois burnt ” it recommends a plaster of mallows,
snail-shells, pennywort, and linseed pounded, and applied
until the part is healed without even uncovering it.

In olden times it was supposed that the small grits of
sand found in the horns of snails, introduced into hollow
teeth, removed the pain instantaneously ; and that the
ashes of empty snail-shells mixed with myrrh were good
for the gums. (Pliny’s Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 481.)

Pliny also recommends “snails beaten up raw and
taken in 3 cyathiof warm water for a cough,” and a snail
diet for internal pains, the snails to be cooked as fol-
lows :—“ They must first be left to simmer in water for
some time without touching the contents of the shell ;
after which, without any other addition, they must be
erilled upon hot coals, and eaten with wine and garum ”
(chap. 15, book xxx.), (a kind of fish-sauce).

* *La Vie et les Mceurs des Animaux,’ p. 386.

+ Throughout this volume I have used the translations of Pliny and
Athenzeus, in Bohn’s series of Classical Authors.

HELICIDM.—SNAIL. 9

Again, that a kind of small, white, elongated snail,
dried upon tiles in the sun and reduced to powder, then
mixed with bean-meal in equal proportions, forms a cos-
metic for whitening and softening the skin.

I have been told that a large trade in snails is carried
on for Covent Garden market in the Lincolnshire Fens,
and that they are sold at 6d. per quart, and upon further
inquiry I find that snails are still much used for con-
sumptive patients and weakly children ; also as salves for
corns put between ivy leaves; and as food for birds. In
the manufacture of “cream” they are also much em-
ployed, bruised in milk and boiled, and a “retired”
milkman pronounced it the most successful imitation
known.

It appears that not only are the Helicide nourishing
to the human species, but that they have a beneficial
effect upon sheep, giving a richness to the flavour of the
mutton. Mr. Jeffreys, in his ‘British Conchology,’ quotes
the following passage from Borlase’s ‘ Natural History of
Cornwall ’—‘ The sweetest mutton is reckoned to be
that of the smallest sheep, which usually feed on the
commons where the sands are scarcely covered with the
green-sod, and the grass exceedingly short; such are
the towens or sand-hillocks in Piran-sand, Gwythian,
Philne, and Senan Green, near the Land’s End, and else-
where in like situations. From these sands come forth
snails of the turbinated kind, but of different species,
and all sizes, from the adult to the smallest just from
the egg; these spread themselves over the plains early
in the morning, and whilst they are in quest of their
own food among the dews, yield a most fattening nourish-
ment to the sheep.”

Birds also are great eaters of snails. Lister mentions

10 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

the partiality of thrushes for Helix nemoralis ; and owing
to the scarcity of this species in South Derbyshire, I have
twice brought a large basketful of live specimens from
Staffordshire, and turned them out, hoping they would
thrive and increase; but I have not only found the dead
and broken shells, but constantly disturbed the feathered
depredators themselves at their repast. Helix arbus-
torum I have also tried, but with the same success ; they
fared no better than the other kind.

There is a true saying “ that there is nothing on earth
so small that it may not produce great things.”* Thus,
the sacred geese at Rome by their cackling awoke
Marcus Manlius, and thereby saved the Capitol from
the Gauls, who were attempting by night to surprise the
garrison ; and even such insignificant creatures as snails
were the cause of the following disaster to a Numidian
king:—A castle on a lofty and steep rock, into which
Jugurtha had carried all his treasures, had long been
besieged in vain by Marius, when a Ligurian in the
Roman army, climbing up the rocks in quest of snails,
was led to continue his search for them, till he had nearly
reached the summit, and thus found that the ascent was
practicable ; and on reporting this fact to Marius, having
been ordered to lead a chosen band up the same part of
the rocks, he aud his comrades so alarmed the garrison
by their unexpected appearance that they gave up the
castle to the besiegers.

The Romans were very partial to snails as an article of
food, and fed them till they grew to a large size. Several
sorts are mentioned by Pliny, and they were all kept
separate ; amongst others, white ones that were found in
the neighbourhood of Rieti. He describes the Illyrian

* Proverbial Philosophy.

HELICID#.—SNAIL. 11

snails as the largest, the African as the most prolific;
others from Soletum, in the Neapolitan territory, as the
noblest and best. He also speaks of some as attaining
to so enormous a size that their shells would contain 80
pieces of money of the common currency,* that is to
say, 80 quadrantes, the quadrans being a small copper
coin ? of an inch in diameter, about the size of a new
sixpence, and = of an inch thick. This statement of
Pliny’s is really not so improbable as may appear at
first sight, for on trying how many sixpences a usual-
sized specimen of our largest snail, Helix pomatia,
would hold, I find that about 40 could easily be put into
it; and in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, in
Paris, there are two specimens of this Helix from Mol-
davia, nearly twice the size of the usual ones, measuring
about 24 inches in breadth, and which would easily hold
80 sixpences.

Fulvius Hirpinus studied the art of fattening them
with so much success, that some of his snails would
contain about 10 quarts. Pliny, in his letter to Sextus
Erucius Clarus, says (complaining of his not fulfilling his
engagement to sup with him) :—‘“I had prepared, you
must know, a lettuce apiece, three snails, two eggs and
a barley cake, with some sweet wine and snow.”

In. Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s ‘ Dalmatia and Monte-
negro, he tells us that the Lllyrian snails mentioned
by Pliny{ are very numerous in Veglia or Veggia, the
Cyractica of Strabo.

Both Helix pomatia and Helix aspersa are eaten abroad
to this day, and in England Dr.Gray says§ that the glass-

* Korby’s Hist. of Animals, etc., ‘ Bridgewater Treatise,’ vol. i. p. 284.

+ Pliny’s Letters, p. 30, vol. i. f Pliny, ix. 56.
§ Blackwood’s Edin. Mag., no. 561, July, 1862.

12 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

men at Newcastle indulge themselves in a snail-feast
once a year, and collect them from the fields and hedge-
rows on the Sunday previous.* Addison, in his Travels,
mentions having seen a snail garden, or “ escargotiére,””
at the Capucins, in Friburg. It was a square place
boarded in, filled with a vast quantity of large snails.
The floor was strewn about half a foot deep with several
kinds of plants, for the snails to nestle amongst during
the winter. When Lent arrived, their magazines were
opened, and a ragotitt made of snails.

‘«‘ Escargotiéres,” or snail gardens, have been in use
for a length of time in various parts of Europe. Dr.
Ebrard, in his pamphlet, ‘ Des Escargots,’ states that M.
Fischer, of Bordeaux, menticns those of Brunswick,
Silesia, and Copenhagen, which latter furnished snails
for the tables of the noble Danes in the eighteenth cen-
tury.

In Barrois, an “escargotiére” consists of a cask
with the head staved in, covered with a net; or a square
hole with the sides lined with wood, and fastened over at
the top with an iron trellis, or with a simple hurdle made
of light osier-sticks. The snails are placed in as they
find them, until there are sufficient for a repast, or for
sale. They are also kept in these places till they are
fattened, or till they close their shells with their epi-
phragm, which enables them to be more easily trans-
ported. In Lorraine, a corner of the garden is often
given up to the snails, surrounded with a fine trellis-work
to prevent their escaping, and all kinds of vegetables are
placed inside which are most appreciated by them.

During the winter, the “escargots” (their shells

* Since the above was written, a correspondent of ‘ Land and Water’
says the glassmen’s snail feast, at Newcastle, no longer exists.

HELICIDZ.—SNAIL. he

being closed with their epiphragm) are kept in pots,
jars, or baskets, in a dry cold place. The vine-growers
in the neighbourhood of Dijon keep them in a dry cellar,
or else dig a trench in the vine-slopes, and place at the
bottom some leaves, and then their snails, covering them
with more leaves and a few spadefuls of earth.

In Silesia, the snails are fed with marjoram, wild
thyme, and aromatic plants, to, give them a flavour.

Ulm, in Wiirtemberg, is celebrated for its “ escargo-
tiéres,” and, according to Marteni, “more than 10 mil-
lions of Helix pomatia are sent away to different gardens
and “ escargotiéres”’ to fatten, and when ready for table
are sent to various convents in Austria for consumption
during Lent.

Helicide are considered rather poor food, and therefore
suitable as Lenten fare; and this peculiarity has given
rise to a singular custom near Bordeaux, mentioned by
M. Fischer, who tells us that every year crowds of people
direct their steps towards the township of Canderan, to
end the Carnival with gaiety, and to have a foretaste
of Lent by feasting on snails. The consumption is
considerable, and a dish of 25 snails costs 1 franc 50
centimes.

A friend told me he had often seen the large apple-
snail on the dinner table at Vienna; they were served
up plain, boiled in their shells, or stuffed with forcemeat.
At Naples, snails are generally kept in bran for a week
or two, or for two or three days, before they are con-
sidered good for the table. They live on the bran, which
is said to fatten them.

When first the snails are gathered from the hedges,
etc., it is a necessary precaution to starve them for a few
days, and not to eat them at once, as they feed on poi-

14, EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

sonous plants, such as the deadly nightshade, poppy,
datura, black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), etc., cases
of poisoning by snails having occurred where they had
been gathered near, or had fed upon these noxious plants.

It is a mistake to suppose that the only snails used as
food are the Helix pomatia and Helix aspersa.* These
are naturally preferred on account of their larger size,
which makes them less troublesome to eat; but a variety
of small kinds of snails, fifteen species in all, cluding
those above mentioned, are also employed in cookery on
the Continent, and there is no reason why they should
not be as good as the others, nor is there any reason why
we should not use snails, and many other molluscous
animals, which we now throw aside, but which are
doubtless quite as palatable and as wholesome as other
kinds which our prejudices permit us to indulge in.

M. le Docteur Ebrard, in his ‘Des Escargots, au
point de vue de |’Alimentation, de la Viticulture et de
V Horticulture, gives an interesting account of the
use of snails both for food and medicine, and he tells us
that during a sojourn of some weeks at Hyéres, in the
month of April, he was struck by seeing suspended at
the side of the door of each cottage, a rush basket of a
peculiar form. He was curious to find out the coutents,
and on looking into one he found it full of snails.

At the sight of these creatures he made a slight move-
ment of disdain, which was perceived by the master of
the house, who said, “These snails disgust you, but we

* Helix aspersa has a variety of names in France, and in the north
it is called colimacon, jardiniére, and aspergille; at Montpellier, cara-
guolo; in Bordelais, cagouille, limaou, and limat ; im Provence, escar-
got and escourgol ; at Avignon, caragoou and contar ; banarut at Arles ;
and bajaina at Grasse.—Dr. Ebrard.

HELICIDZ.—SNAIL. 15

poor country people eat no other meat all the year, ex-
cept at Kaster.”

Dr. Ebrard adds that, during the famine of 1816 and
1817, snails were most valuable articles of food to the
inhabitants of Central France; again, that from the
coasts of Saintonge and Aunis, snails have been for a
long time exported in casks to Senegal and the Antilles;
and that M. Valmont-Bomard saw the peasants, in the
neighbourhood of La Rochelle, gathering an immense
quantity of small snails, to send to America, in casks
filled with branches of trees, crossed again and again, so
that the snails might be able to attach themselves firmly,
and not be much shaken during the transport.

Heliz aperta, which is not known in England, but is
figured in Messrs. Forbes and Hanley’s ‘ British Concho-
logy,’ from a dead specimen having been found in Guern-
sey, in 1839, is highly esteemed amongst real connois-
seurs of snails, and is found in Provence (where it is
called by the Provencaux ¢apada, tapa, or tapet), in some
parts of Italy, and in the islands of the Mediterranean.

M. Moquin-Tandontells us that vessels regularly visited
the coasts of Liguria, in search of considerable quantities
of Helix aperta, for food for the higher classes at Rome.*
The shell is of a yellowish-olive colour and nearly translu-
ecnt, thin, and of an ovate-globular form. It has a large
mouth, with the peristome white, and the whorls four in
number. In the heat of summer and during the winter
this Helix, like Helix pomatia, buries itself in holes in
the ground, shutting up the aperture of its shell with a
white calcareous epiphragm. Two of the specimens
we have in our collection, which were sent from Italy,
still have this epiphragm very perfectly preserved; and it

* At Rome, Helix aperta is called Monacello.

16 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

is very glossy and slightly convex. Theophrastus, in his
treatise upon animals which live in holes, states that
snails have the habit of burying themselves. He says:
“— Snails live in holes during the winter, and still
more in the summer, on which account they are seen in
the greatest numbers during the autumn rains. But
their holes in the summer are made in the ground, and
inthe trees.’’*

Helix nemoralis is also eaten, and at Toulouse sells
for 5 or 10 centimes a dish; but by some, snails with
striped shells are not considered good, as they have a

bad taste and smell. M. Moquin-Tandon purchased,
in 1847, in the market at Toulouse, a basket containing
400 specimens of Helix aspersa for 60 centimes; and
another, with 1503 specimens of Helix nemoralis, for 75
centimes,—making 15 centimes the 100 for the former,
and a little less than 5 centimes for the latter. Helix
nemoralis and Helix hortensis are known by various
names in France ; “ for instance, at Bordeaux they are
called demoiselles, mogne at Libournes, molimorno at Li-
moges, limaio at Agen, limaia at Montpellier, livrée in
the north of France, and caracolo in the Pyrenees.’’+

Helix Pisana, which is a very local species with us,
and only found at Tenby (where I have séen it in pro-
fusion), at Manorbeer, in Cornwall, Jersey, and Ireland,
is greatly prized as an article of food abroad, and is
larger than it is with us,—indeed, almost as large as
Helix nemoralis.

“ At Marseilles, the average sale of Heliv Pisana and
Helix rhodostoma is about 20,000 kilogrammes, at 3
francs the 50 kilogrammes, which makes the sum of
1200 francs. By the sale of our common garden snail
* Athenzus, Deipn. vol. i. p. 104. + Dr. Ebrard, ‘ Des Escargots.’

HELICID#.—SNAIL. IZ

(Helix aspersa) the same price is realized, and that of
Heliz vermiculata* amounts to 4800 francs. It is also
stated, that in the market at Dijon is sold, annually,
about 6000 francs’ worth of the vine snail, Helix pomatia
(the escargot par excellence, and called also luma, gros
luma, and le moucle de vigne), at 1 franc 50 centimes per
hundred.” +

In Corsica the same species are eaten; and it is said
that, in the island of Ré the sale of these Helicide
amounts annually to 25,000 francs, but probably this
sum is exaggerated. In Burgundy, Champagne, and
Franche-Comté, a great quantity of snails of all kinds
are consumed, and also sent to Paris; and Professor Sim-
monds mentions that there are now 50 restaurants, and
more than 1200 private tables, in that city, where snails
are considered a delicacy by from 8000 to 10,000 consu-
mers; that the monthly consumption of this mollusk is
estimated at half a million; again, that the market
price of the vineyard snail (apple or vine snail, Helix
pomatia) is from 2s. to 3s. per hundred, while those of
the hedges, woods, and forests bring only 1s. 6d. to 2s.
He further adds, that in the vicinity of Dijon the pro-
prietor of one snailery is said to clear nearly £300
a year by his snails; and also that there are exported
from Crete annually about 20,000 okes (each nearly
3 lb.) of snails, valued at 15,000 Turkish piastres.

M. Renou, (as quoted by M. Cailliaud, of Nantes,) in
a curious account, read in 1864 before the Academical
Society at Nantes, on the importance that the ancients
attached to snails, observed, that during 1862 and 1863

* Helix vermiculata is soldat Leghorn under the name of chiocciola,
and at Naples shares in common with other snails that of maruzze.
+ Dr. Ebrard.
Cc

18 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

the escargots brought to the Marché de la Bourse, at
Nantes, on Sundays and /éte days, amounted in number
to 996,000, producing the sum of 2490 francs.*

We read that formerly, in Paris, snails were only to
be found in the herbalists’ shops and at the chemists’ ;
but now there is a special place for them in the fish
market, by the side of the.crayfish and other freshwater
fishes; and in nearly all the restaurants you may see
dishes of Helix pomatia displayed in the windows. They
are ready cooked, and only require warming for a few
minutes on the gridiron. It is from Troyes, at the
price of five francs the hundred, that the apple or vine
snail is sent to Paris, boiled in their shells, and seasoned
with fresh butter mixed with parsley. When you wish
to partake of them, you place them before the fire till
the butter melts, and then they are fit to eat. I pur-
chased some, and succeeded in eating two, but with
difficulty, as the way they were dressed did not disguise
the slimy, soapy taste, and the want of salt, pepper,
etc., made them most unpalatable. I felt that I could
sympathize with Dr. Black and Dr. Hutton, who also
endeavoured to eat a dish of stewed snails; but, after
vainly attempting to swallow in very small quantities
the mess which each internally loathed, “ Dr. Black at
lengih ‘showed the white feather,’ but in a very delicate
manner, as if to sound the opinion of his messmate.
, ‘Doctor,’ he said, in his precise and quiet manner,
‘ Doctor, do you not think that they taste a little—a
very little—green?’? ‘Green! green, indeed! Take
them awa’! take them awa’!” vociferated Dr. Hutton,

* ‘Catalogue des Radiaires, des Annélides, des Cirrhipédes, et des

Mollusques marins, terrestres et fluviatiles, recueillis dans le départe-
ment de la Loire-Inférieure,’ par Frédéric Cailliaud, de Nantes, p. 222.

HELICIDE.—SNAIL. 19

starting from the table, and giving full vent to his feel-
ings of abhorrence.”’*

In Paris, snails are not considered in season till the
first frost, about the end of October or beginning of
November, when they are closed with their white epi-
phragm. The Parisians eat about fifteen or twenty for
breakfast, and they are also said to give a better flavour
to wine.

In Spain, also, all snails are eaten, unless they are
too small to cook; and they are called caracola, and the
men who gather and sell them are called caracoleros.
However, they apply the term caracola, to all snail-like
shells, only distingishing them thus, caracola del mar,
caracola del rio, caracola del huerta, t. e. salt, freshwater,
or garden caracoles.

Rossmiassler mentions having seen fourteen different
species of Helicide brought to the markets in Murcia
and Valencia, and sold to be eaten. He adds that
snails are not only food for the poor, for that many
kinds are too costly. One species, called serranos, is
sold for a penny of our English money each; but they
are not half that price bought by the dozen. They cook
them by stewing them, shells and all, in a richly-spiced
sauce, and then put the shell to the mouth, and draw
out the animal by sipping or sucking it.

Rossmissler states, for the benefit of those who may
travel in Spain for scientific purposes, that to collect
plants it is useless to visit the north of Spain before the
middle of April, and the south before the end of March.
For insects and shells, the end of the summer, and above
all the autumn, is the best time of the year.

The snail-hunters, who daily supply the markets with

* Curiosities of Food, p. 348.
c2

20 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

large baskets of snails, often have to traverse great tracts
of hilly country, and are obliged to go out very early in
the morning, before sunrise, in search of these crea-
tures, as they are then to be found in more abundance.
Much amusement was afforded to the Spaniards, by
Rossmassler throwing away the delicate animal, and
only retaining its shell, which to them was worthless, but
most valuable to him as a conchologist. Upon one oc-
casion, on arriving at a posada, he found the hotel
people sitting down to their midday meal, before a great
dish full of snails. He says :—“ One look satisfied me
that they were of a rare kind, for which I had sought
in vain; and I immediately seized upon some of the
empty shells, which caused a universal laugh. I did
not care at all for this, but I had actually to pay a real
(about 2s. 4d.) for the empty shells, which, when living,
I could have got for nothing.” This was thoroughly
Spanish.

Dr. W. Gottlob Rosenhauer, in his ‘ Die Thiere An-
dalusiens,’ says that Helix lactea, which is very abun-
dant, and readily found close to stones amongst grass,
near Malaga, and San Fernando, is brought in great
numbers to the markets in Andalusia, and that the
empty shells may be seen there all about the streets.
Both Helix aspersa and Helix lactea are used abundantly
for food, but the latter tastes better, and is more deli-
cate. They are generally cooked in rice, with butter or
some other greasy substance, and held in a napkin
whilst the animal is picked out with a pin; or some-
times the mouth (or head) is first cut off, and the ani-
mal is then drawn out by suction,—a proceeding not
very elegant, at least according to our English ideas.
Helix lactea may also be classed among the edible snails

HELICIDH.—SNAIL. a1

of France, and is found in the Pyrenees, and also in
Corsica.

Dr. Hbrard was informed by Dr. Roi, the Inspec-
tor of Colonization in Africa, that in the market at Al-
giers large heaps of snails are to be seen of the same
species as those found in Central France, and are sold
by the bushel, and by the hundred, as an article of food ;
and a small species, about the size of a pea, is collected
in Algeria in great numbers, and given to the ducks.

Sir Gardner Wilkinson has seen baskets full of snails
carried about for sale in the streets of Cairo; and in
‘Physical Geography of the Holy Land’ it is stated
that they are occasionally eaten in Syria, though not
often. In Scotland, fortunes are predicted by snails.’
In Hone’s ‘ Every-day Book, we read that “No one
will marry in May, but, on the first morning of that
month, the maidens rise early to gather May-dew, which
they throw over their shoulder in order to propitiate
fate in alotting them a good husband. If they can suc-
ceed, by the way, in catching a snail by the horns, and
throwing it over their shoulder, it is an omen of good
luck ; and, if it is placed on a slate, then likewise it
will describe by its turning the initials of their future
husband’s name.’’*

According to the ‘ Archzologia Cambrensis,’ in the
parish of St. Clear’s, Carmarthenshire, small portions
of lands were formerly gambled away by means of snail-

* In ‘Folklore of the Northern Counties of England,’ p. 86, it is said
that if, on leaving your house, you see a black snail (slug ?), seize it
boldly by one of its horns and throw it over your left shoulder; you
may then go on your way prosperously ; but if you fling it over the
right shoulder, you will draw down ill luck. This practice is said to
extend as far south as Lancashire.

22 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

races. The rival snails were placed at the foot of a post,
and the one that first reached the top, won the land for
its master.. In the Isle of Wight, the fishermen of
Atherfield and Brixton consider snails the best bait for
prawns, and horseflesh next.

The shells of Helix pomatia are used for making small
whistles for children. The apex of the shell is cut off,
and a piece of tin added; they are then sold for a penny
each; and who does not recollect the wonderful cats
made of the shells of the common garden snail, Helix
aspersa, with heads of cement or putty, and how anxious
we were to become possessors of these beautiful crea-
tures! They are now seldom seen, except in some small
out-of-the-way shop in a country town or village,—such
trifles not suiting the tastes of the precocious juveniles
of the present day.

The ancients seem to have studied the habits of these
mollusks, as besides Theophrastus, whom I have already
quoted, Aristotle also mentions them ; and Teucer speaks
of the snail as “an animal destitute of feet and spine
and bone, whose back is clad with horny shell, with
long projecting and retreating eyes,’* and many others.
Hesiod calls the snail the “hero that carries his house
on his back,” and Anaxilas says—

“You are e’en more distrustful than a snail,
Who fears to leave even his house behind him.’

Somewhat different is the old English proverbial rhyme,

“Good wives to snails should be akin,
Always to keep their homes within ;
Yet unlike snails they should not pack
All they are worth upon their back.”

* Athensus, ‘ Deipnosophists,’ book x. ec. 83, p. 720.
+ Ibid., book ii. c. 63, p. 104.

HELICIDZ.—SNAIL. 23

Gwillim, in his ‘ Heraldry,’ informs us that the snail
is called Tardigrada domiporta, the “ slow-going house-
bearer,” and adds, “the bearing of the snail doth sig-
nify, that much deliberation must be used in matters of
great difficulty and importance; for, although the snail
goeth most slowly, yet, im time she ascendeth to the top
of the highest tower, as Mr. Carew, of Antony, hath
wittily moralized in his poem, intituled ‘The Herring’s
Tail.’” He gives snails as the armorial bearings of the
Shelleys, but he also mentions whelks, which shells are
now borne by this family. .

The crest of the Carpenters of Somersetshire is a snail
passant proper, shell argent; and that of the Galay
family, a snail, horns erect, proper.

To Dress Snails—Snails that feed on vines are con-
sidered the best. Put.some water into a saucepan, and
when it begins to boil, throw in the snails, and let them
boil a quarter of an hour; then take them out of their
shells; wash them several times, taking great pains to
cleanse them thoroughly, place them in clean water, and
boil them again for a quarter of an hour; then take
them out, rinse them, dry them, and place them with a
little butter in a frying-pan, and fry them gently for a
few minutes, sufficient to brown them; then serve with
some piquante sauce.*

Snails cooked in the French way.—Crack the shells
and throw them into boiling water, with a little salt and
herbs, sufficient to make the whole savoury ; in a quar-
ter of an hour take them out, pick the snails from the
shells, and boil them again; then put them into a sauce-
pan, with butter, parsley, a clove of garlic, pepper,
thyme, a bay-leaf, and a little flour; when sufficiently

* An old French recipe.

24 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

done, add the yolk of an egg, well beaten, and the juice
of a lemon, or some vinegar.

The following are Spanish recipes for cooking them :—

Snails with Parsley—Caracoles con Perejil.—Take a
slice of crumb of bread, soak it in vinegar and water,
pound it in a mortar with garlic, salt and pepper, parsley
and mint; add oil drop by drop, turning the pestle the
whole time in the same direction; put the snails which
have been already boiled, and taken out of their shells
into this, and either serve cold or fry the whole together.

Ragott of Snails—Guisado de Caracoles.—Soak the
snails in salt water, then wash them in two or three
waters; take thyme, marjoram, bay-leaves, and salt,
and fry them with chopped onions in butter or oil; boil
the snails, and take them out of their shells, or, if you
prefer it, put them, shells and all, into the butter, and
fry them. Let them be served as foellows:—Soak a
piece of bread in vinegar and water, and pound it ina
mortar with a clove of garlic, a little pepper, salt, pars-
ley, and mint, chopped very fine; add oil drop by drop, ~
turning the pestle all the time till it is quite a smooth
paste, and place it round the dish, putting the snails in
the centre.

Winter Soup.—Place the snails in boiling water for a
few minutes, when they will easily come out of the shell.
A little bit of hard matter is to be taken from the head,
then stew them for a long time in milk.*

Another Recipe from the same source.—Scald the
snails to get rid of their shells, and then fry them with
a few crumbs of bread, and a little seasoning, viz. pep-
per, salt, and a finish of fine herbs, or stew them with
white or brown sauce.t

* ‘Tife in Normandy,’ vol. ii. p. 24. t+ Vol. ii. p. 62.

HELICIDH.—SNAIL. 25

Another French Recipe for dressing Snails.—In spring
and autumn, the snails which are found in the vineyards
are good to eat, for those who like them; and to clean
them and make them easy to get out of the shell they
must be dressed as follows :—Take a handful of charcoal
ashes, and put it into a saucepan or kettle with some
soft water, or water from a river; when it boils, throw
in the snails, and leave them for a quarter of an hour.
When you find the snails can easily be picked out of the
shell, take them and place them in some tepid water to
cleanse them ; then, again, put them into fresh water, and
let them boil for a minute or so, take them out, and
let them drain. Put into a saucepan a piece of butter,
with a bunch of parsley, chives, a clove of garlic, two
cloves, thyme, a bay-leaf, basil, and some mushrooms
then add the snails, being careful that they are well
drained. Pass the whole over the fire, adding a little
flour moistened with broth, a glass of white wine, salt,
and pepper, and let it simmer till the snails are quite
tender, and till the sauce is nearly dried up in the pan.
Serve them up with a sauce made as follows :—Take
the yolks of three eggs, beat them up with some cream,
warm it, but do not let it boil, add a little white vinegar
or verjuice, with a little nutmeg.*

Dijon method of cooking Snatls.—Boil them in water
with some thyme; take them out of their shells; place
in the shells some fresh butter, kneaded with chopped
parsley ; replace the animal in its shell, and cover it
with some more of the butter, etc. When required for
eating, place them on an iron dish, or on one of porce-
lain. They are placed side by side, with the mouth of
the shell upwards, in little holes in the iron or porcelain

* “La Cuisiniére Bourgeoise.’

26 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

dish, which is made for the purpose, and they must be
warmed till the butter melts. Thus prepared, snails
sell at Dijon from 5 to 10 centimes apiece.*

Another method of cooking Snails.—In the north and
east of France, Helix pomatia, or Hélices vigneronnes, the
apple or vine snails, are boiled in water and taken out
of their shells, then stewed in a saucepan with some
fresh butter and parsley; or else the snails, after they
have been taken out of their shells, and are three parts
cooked, are put into a saucepan with a little water and
some butter, or with some broth, adding a little salt,
pepper, white wine, or vinegar. When they are cooked
and tender, pour over them a thickening of yolks of
eggs, with chopped parsley; the addition of nutmeg and
lemon-juice makes them more savoury.*

The inhabitants of Central France use several sauces
for snails, and the four principal are the following, ac-
cording to Dr. Ebrard, viz. :—

LT’ ayoli, or ail-y-oli, of Languedoc; a paste made with
olive oil, and pounded garlic.

P’aillado, of Gascony; a most complicated sauce of
garlic, onions, chives, leeks, parsley, etc., with spices,
cloves, and nutmeg, the whole thickened with oil.

La limassade, of Provence, called La vinaigrette in
Paris.

La cacalaousada, of Montpellier, composed of flour,
ham, sugar, etc. At Bordeaux the aillada is softened
with a mixture of bread, flour, and yolk of egg, boiled
with milk.

Stuffed snails are also considered very good. A fine
stuffing is made with snails previously cooked, fillets of
anchovies, nutmeg, spice, fine herbs, and a liaison of

* Dr. Ebrard.

CARDIADEH.—COCKLE. Pd

yolk of eggs. The snail-shells are filled with this stuff-
ing, then placed before the fire, and served very hot. In
some countries Blainville states, that snails are eaten,
smoked and dried.

Fam. CARDIAD-.
CARDIUM.—COCKLE.

CarDIUM EDULE, Linneus. Common Cockle.—Shell
equivalve, subcordate, with twenty-four or more ribs
radiating from the beaks, which are bent inwards; um-
bones prominent; the internal margins of the valves
fluted or indented. Ligament external, strong, and of
a dark horn-colour. Four teeth in each valve; the two
primary teeth close together, the lateral teeth remote.
Colour yellowish-white.

The common Cockle (the ruocane or bruvane of the
Trish; la bucarde, sourdon, rigardot, or coque of the
French, the derizon of the Spaniards) is found all round
our coasts, burying itself in sand, or sandy mud, in the
neighbourhood of estuaries; and at low tides num-
bers of people may be seen busily engaged filling their
baskets, as it is everywhere much sought after for food ;
and during times of scarcity in some of the northern
islands of Scotland, the inhabitants might have perished
with hunger, if it had not been for this useful little shell-
fish. The quantity of shellfish, particularly of cockles,
on the shores of most parts of the Long Island (Western
Isles) 1s almost inconceivable. On the sands of Barra
alone, scores of horse-loads may be taken at a single
tide. Cockles are considered by the people very nutri-

28 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

tious, especially when boiled with milk.* It is astonishing
how quickly an expert cockle-gatherer will fill his basket ;
and sometimes they make use of a piece of bent iron, or
half an old hoop, to scrape the shells out of the sands.
At Starcross, they have small ‘ cockle-gardens,” where
the shellfish are kept ; and the flavour of these cockles
is considered superior to those which are found else-
where. The costume of the women who gather them is
anything but becoming ;—large fishermen’s boots, their
dresses so arranged as to resemble very large knicker-
beckers, and an old hat or handkerchief on their ——
with their baskets on their backs.

I am told that some of the Gower people, on the north
side of the seigniory of Gower (a Flemish colony in Gla-
morganshire), live nine months in the year on cockles.
They also carry large quantities to Swansea market,
whence they are sent to London.

Mr. Baines, in his ‘Explorations in South-West Africa,’
tells us that cockle-shells are greatly prized by the Da-
maras, and, if they are rich enough to afford it, one is
worn in the hair over the centre of the forehead ; and
he adds, that if some friend at home would invest three-
halfpence in these favourite mollusks, and send him the
shells after his meal, he might make his fortune. In
the British Museum a fishing-net is exhioited, from the
Friendly Islands, with cockle-shells fastened on it to
sink it, instead of leads. Cockle-shells are also used
for making garden walks, and good lime is made from
them when they are calcined.

In the heraldry of Prussia the cockle-shell is used.
“Barry of four, argent and azure, semée of cockle-

* ‘Visits to the Seacoasts: Shipwrecked Mariners,’ vol. xii. p. 32,
1865.

CARDIADA.—COCKLE. 29

shells counterchanged, are borne by the Silesian family
of Von Strachwitz, which has for crest two wings also
charged with cockles.”*

We also find this shell figured on coins. <A specimen
in the British Museum of the sextans, the sixth part of
the as, or piece of two ounces, has on one side a cadu-
ceus, a strigil, and two balls, and on the other a cockle-
shell.

Ossian, in his poem the ‘ War of Inis-thona,’ tells
us that the king of that island gave a feast to Oscar,
which lasted three days, and that they “rejoiced in the
shell,”’—meaning that they feasted sumptuously and
drank freely. Again, we meet with the “chief of
shells,” and the “halls of shells.” Macpherson calls
the cockle the “ heroes’ cup of festivity,” being known
by the name of sliga-crechin, or the drinking-shell; and
it is also stated that this shell is used in the Hebrides
for skimming milk.t ‘This seems, however, hardly pos-
sible, for the “heroes” would probably not be content
with so small acup as the little common cockle. It
must have been some larger shell, and formerly the word
“ cockle” was applied to any shell; besides which, the
common cockle could not, from its shape, be used for
skimming milk, and from its size, it would be of little use
for that purpose. Moreover, we know that the so-called
cockle used in the Hebrides for that purpose is a Mya,
there called the cockle.

The Irish, the South Welsh, and probably others,
call the whelk (Buccinum undaium) the goggle, and know
it by no other name. It is evidently the same word
and is more correctly applied, as we shall presently see.

* Sibmacher’s ‘ Wapenbuch,’ Heraldry of Fish, p. 226.
+ ‘A Book for the Seaside.’

30 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

“Cockle”? was the common name in olden times for
the escallop of pilgrims,—‘ he wore the cockle in his
hat,” etc. ; and it is still often so used in heraldic lan-
guage. Lydgate, when he says—

** And as the cockille, with heavenly dewe
So clene
Of kynde, engendreth white perlis rounde.”

means evidently the oyster, alluding to the old fable of
pearls being formed by the oyster’s rising to the surface
at the full moon, and opening its shell to receive the
falling dew-drops, which thus hardened into pearls,—
an idea which is quaintly detailed by Robinson, in his
‘Essay towards a Natural History of Westmoreland
and Cumberland’ (1709), who, in speaking of the pearls
procured from the rivers Irt and End, says, “Those
large shellfish which we call horse-mussels, which, gap-
ing eagerly and sucking in their dewy streams, conceive
and bring forth great plenty of them” (the pearls),
“which the neighbourhood gather up at low-water, and
sell at all prices.’ The natives of India have a simi-
lar belief with regard to the origin of pearls, viz. that
they are congealed dewdrops, which Buddha in certain
months showers upon the earth, when they are caught
by the oysters whilst floating on the waters to
breathe.*

The natives of Java have a still stranger belief that
the pearls themselves breed and increase if placed in
cotton, and they actually sell what they term “ breed-
ing pearls” for this purpose, affecting to distinguish the
male from the female. Those pearls which are clus-
tered together, in the form of a blackberry, are said
by them to be thus preduced. Nor is this belief pecu-

* ‘Household Words,’ vol. iii. p. 80, “ My Pearl-fishing Expedition.”

CARDIADA.—COCKLE. ol

liar to Java, as a Spanish lady informed a friend of
mine that, if seed-pearls were shut up in cotton-wool,
they would increase either in size or in number! The
experience of our jewellers is that the effect of cotton-
wool on pearls is to injure their colour, and make them
yellow.

Shakespeare says :—

** Love’s feeling is more soft and sensitive
Than are the horns of cockled snails.”

Here cockled means either shelled or whorled.

The Greek xoyAlas, KoyAos, means a snail, or a
shell with a spiral whorl (hence the name of “ goggle”
for the Buccinum) ; but it is also used sometimes for a
bivalve shell or “ cockle.”’ Koydsdprov is a spoon.

Camden, in his ‘ Britannia’ (p. 962), in speaking of
Treland, and of the commodities of the British Ocean,
says :—‘ There are cockles, also, in great numbers, with
which they dye a scarlet colour so strong and fair, that
neither the heat of the sun nor the violence of the rain
will change it, and the older it is, the better it looks.”
Of course, the purple-fish (Purpura lapillus) is here
meant.

Locke also speaks of the ‘‘ oyster or cockle.”’

The Latin cochlea is properly a snail; but cochlear
(cochleare, or cochiearivm), “‘a spoon,” or “ spoonful,”
seems to be derived from the form of a bivalve shell,
rather than of a snail; it was also a measure for liquids,
and in medicine it still signifies a spoonful, hence the
Italian cucchiajo, French cuiller. Cochlearium was also
used by the Romans for any small shell, as in medizval
times. Some authors, indeed, say the spoon was called
cochiear, not from its shape, but from the pointed end

Oe EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

or handle being used for taking the snails (cochlea) out
of their shells and eating them, and the broader part
for eating eggs, ete. This may be doubted, but a spoon
could scarcely resemble a snail-shell, and Martial says
(xiv. 121), “Sum cochleis habilis, nec sum minus utilis
ovis.”

At the meeting of the Ethnological Society, March 4th,
1862, Mr. G. W. Earl gave an interesting description
of the singular Malayan shell-mounds, which were formed
entirely of cockle-shells. He described them as exist-
ing in the province of Wellesley, near the Mudah river ;
that they were about five or six miles from the sea,
situated on sandy ridges that appeared formerly to bound
the narrow estuaries communicating with the ocean.
He adds that these mounds of cockle-shells are about
18 to 20 feet high, and that the Chinese immigrants
. have largely employed them as a source of. lime.
These mounds are supposed to be of great antiquity,
from the fact of the shells beg partly cemented toge-
ther by crystallized carbonate of lime, the result of the
very slow action of atmospheric and aqueous influences.
At the bottom of one mound, which contained 20,000
tons of shells, a human pelvis was found; and other re-
mains and stone-implements have been obtained from
the Chinese lime-burners. Mr. Earl attributes the for-
mation of these mounds to the Semangs, a diminutive
Negro race now sparingly scattered over the surround-
ing country, but who were evidently very numerous
and widely spread in former times.*

In Grey’s ‘ Australia,’ vol. i., mention is made of a
hill of broken shells, which it must have taken centuries
to form, situated between Port George the Fourth, and

* ©Tntellectual Observer,’ vol. 1. p. 239.

CARDIADA.—COCKLE. 33

Hanover Bay. ‘‘It covered nearly half an acre of
ground, and in some places was ten feet high; it was
situated over a bed of cockles, and was evidently formed
from the remains of native feasts, as their fire-places
aud the last small heaps of shells were visible on the
summit of the hill.’ A similar mound noticed near
Port Essington, of sliells rudely heaped together, is
supposed to be a burying-place of the Indians.

At Wigwam Cave, Tierra del Fuego, piles of old
shells, often amounting to some tons in weight, were
noticed by Dr. Darwin, which had at different periods
formed the chief food of the inhiabitants.*

These remind us of the so-called kjokkenméddings
(kitchen heaps) of Denmark, or shell mounds, to which
the attention of archeologists has been recently at-
tracted in Northern Europe, and which consist of thou-
sands of shells of the oyster, cockle, and other edible .
mollusks, with implements of stone, such as flint knives,
hatchets, etc., and implements of bone, wood, and horn,
with fragments of coarse pottery mixed with charcoal
and cinders.t

Quite recently, one of these kjGkkenméddings has been
discovered at Newhaven, in Sussex, and among the ob-
jects found were limpet and other shells, with bones of
animals. ft

In 18638, Sir John Lubbock published in the ‘ Natural
History Review’ an account he had received from the
Rev. G. Gordon, of Scotch kjékkenméddings on the
Elginshire coast, resembling those in Denmark. Mr.
Gordon says:—“ By far the most striking if not the

* Darwin, ‘ Voyage of Adventure and Beagle,’ vol. iii. p. 234.
+ Sir Charles Lyell’s ‘ Antiquity of Man.’
¥ ‘Intellectual Observer,’ vol. vii. p. 233.

34 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

most ancient of the kjdkkenméddings we have in our
vicinity is that one which lies within a small wood on
the old margin of the Loch of Spynie, and on a sort of
promontory formed of those raised shingle beaches so
well developed in that quarter. This mound, or rather
two mounds (for there is an intervening portion of the
ground which has no shells), must have been of consi-
derable extent. A rough measurement gives 80 by 30
yards for the larger, and 26 by 30 for the smaller por-
tion. The most abundant shell is the periwinkle; next
in order as to frequency is the oyster, which, as well as
those who had it as a large item in their bill of fare,
has passed away from our coasts. Save in some of the
nooks of our Firth, as at Cromarty, Altirlie, and Avoch,
we know not where a small dish of them could be pro-
cured. As third in order, in this mound, is the mus-
sel, and then the cockle.”

Mr. Gordon further adds that similar refuse-heaps are
found all round the shores of the Moray Firth, and that
the farmers gradually cart them away to serve as manure
or topdressings.

These shell-mounds, Sir John Lubbock states, are
actually called “shelly-meddings” by the fishermen of
that district.

Sir Gardner Wilkinson found large masses of cockle-
shells embedded in the ditches of an old British camp
or earthwork, called “‘ Nottle Tor,’ in the seignory of
Gower, in Glamorganshire. This camp stands on a high
rock above the sea, and at some distance from any dwell-
ing-house; the shells therefore are from fish eaten by
the ancient Britons.

Cockle, mussel, and oyster shells are often discovered
in great quantities on the sites of Roman stations.

CARDIADH.—COCKLKE. oo

In the reign of King John, we read of vessels called
“cogs.” They were supposed to be short and of great
breadth, like a cockle-shell, whence they are said to have
derived their name. The name “cog” was variously
written, viz. kogge, gogga, kogh, cocka, coqua, etc.
“Cogs” were used for the conveyance of passengers
from England to France, and as coasting vessels.*

Cockle Soup.—Scald, drain, beard, and wash carefully
four dozen of cockles, reserving their liquor in a pan,
Put 4 ounces of butter into a stewpan to barely dissolve
over the fire; mix in 4 ounces of flour; moisten with a
pint and a half of good white stock or milk; season
with nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne, and a teaspoonful of
anchovy; add half a pint of cream; stir over the fire
for a quarter of an hour’s gentle boiling, and then, hav-
ing cut the cockles in halves, pour the hot soup over
them in the tureen.t

Cockle Sauce.—Clean cockles thoroughly from all
particles of sand, put them into a saucepan with the
liquor and a little water, thicken with flour and butter, —
adding pepper, salt, a little mace, and some cream.

Soyer’s Porridge of Cockles, oysters, or mussels, for
the poor. They make a most nourishing and palatable
food, and on the coast a very economical one.—Take two
dozen oysters, or if you use cockles or mussels take a
quart of either, put them into an earthen jar with their
liquor and three tablespoonfuls of flour; place it on the
fire and stir them round and round; add a little salt and
pepper and they are done. Eat them thus or add
them to soup or porridge. A little dripping or lard is
an improvement, also a bay leaf, mint, or an onion sliced.
* See Hist. of the Royal Navy, by Sir N. H. Nicolas, vol. i., note, p. 128,

+ Francatelli’s ‘ Cook’s Guide.’
D2

36 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Scalloped Cockles.—Wash the cockles well, then scald
some dozens of them; strain the liquor into a stew-
pan, and add thereto 2 ounces of butter, mixed with 2
ounces of flour, a little cream, anchovy, nutmeg, and
cayenne; stir the sauce over the fire to boil and reduce
for ten minutes, then add a couple of yolks of eggs, and
a little lemon-juice, and some chopped parsley ; add the
cockles; stir altogether over the fire for a few minutes,
and fill some scallop shells with this preparation. Cover
them over with a thick coating of fried bread-crumbs ;
place them on a baking-sheet in the oven for five mi-
nutes, and serve them quite hot.*

To Stew Cockles.—Clean them and wash them from
the sand in three or four waters; boil them and pick
them out of the shells. To a pint of the fish put half
a pint of fish-stock, 2 ounces of butter, and some pepper
and salt; add a spoonful of flour, stirred in gradually,
and simmer over a slow fire until it is of a proper thick-
ness; add a large spoonful of essence of anchovy and
one of mushroom ketchup.t

The natives of the seignory of Gower cook cockles in
various ways ; sometimes they fry them with ham. They
also make excellent pies of cockles with chopped chives,
2 layer of bacon being placed at the bottom of the dish ;
or they fry the cockles with oatmeal and chives, or oat-
meal alone; they also make of them an excellent and
nutritious soup.

In Ireland, the common cockles are cooked in their
shells over the fire, and eaten with oaten cake. The
shells are separated by twisting them apart, and a little
butter is put into the shell, which is then placed on the
turf-fire till the fish inside is fried.

* Francatelli. + Murray’s Modern Domestic Cookery.

CARDIADA.—COCKLE. 37

Mr. Blackburn, in his ‘ Travelling in Spain in the Pre-
sent Day,’ says, that one of the best dishes at Seville is
composed of rice, pimentoes, cockles (including sand
and shells), well boiled in oily gravy.

CARDIUM RUSTICUM or TUBERCULATUM, Linneus.
Red-nosed Cockle.—Shell nearly 3 inches in length, and
2 in breadth; very solid, subrotund, opaque, with 21 or
more broad ribs which radiate from the beaks, with
knots or tubercles on them, which on the anterior slope
are flat, and even wanting in young specimens, and on
the posterior side are more pointed and rugged; the in-
terstices between the ribs coarsely striated. Umbones
prominent; beaks incurved. Ligament large, central
tooth large, and the lateral teeth remote.

This large handsome cockle is essentially a Mediter-
ranean species, and is rare and local in England. It is
found on the Devoushire coast, at Paignton, and occa-
sionally at Dawlish, and at certain times of the year,
especially in the spring after a gale from the east, nam-
bers may be gathered. On paying a visit to the Paign-
ton sands, for the purpose of shell collecting, in the spring
of 1862, the beach was quite strewn with broken single
valves of this cockle, and there had evidently been quan-
tities of live specimens washed up as well, as we met
many persons returning home with their baskets heavily
laden with them.

Cardium rusticum varies in colour, from nearly white
to a rich-rufous brown; sometimes there is a white band
round the shell and one of a dark chestnut-brown to-
wards the margins. The colouring of the animal is
most beautiful, the body being of a pink or pale ver-
milion, the mantle yellow or reddish, and the long foot
of a most brilliant crimson. ‘This foot terminates in a

38 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

hooked point, and when stretched to its utmost is nearly
4 inches in length. It is by means of this organ, that
the cockle can bury itself in the sands, and also take
those wonderful leaps of which we read in Mr. Gosse’s
interesting work, ‘The Aquarium,’ and again in his ‘A
Year at the Shore,’ wheré he mentions that a specimen
was seen to throw itself over the gunwale of a boat
when laid on the bottom boards. Mr. Gosse states, in
this latter work, that the mode of leaping is performed
as follows :-—“ The long taper foot is thrust to its utmost
and feels about for some resisting surface, a stone for
instance, which it no sooner feels than the hooked point
is pressed stiffly against it, the whole foot, by muscular
contraction, is made suddenly rigid, and the entire crea-
ture,—mantle, siphons, foot, shell, and all,—is jerked
away in an uncouth manner.”

There is another cockle found also at Paignton,
which is even more scarce than Cardium rusticum, viz.
Cardium aculeatum ; it is larger and not so solid, with
long spines on each rib, and is of a pale brownish-pink
or flesh colour. It is very good to eat. I have had
splendid specimens sent to me, alive, from Paignton,
in a jar, with seaweed; some measuring more than 3
inches in length and 23 in breadth, and I have taken
them myself at Langston Point, near Dawlish. The
foot of the animal is long, and of areddish-pink, but not
nearly so vivid or brilliant in colour as that of Cardium
rusticum. It is also an inhabitant of the Mediterra-
nean.

Paignton method of Cooking the Red.nosed Cockle.—
Cleanse them for a few hours in cold spring water, and
then fry them in a batter made of bread-crumbs.*

* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Moll. vol. ii. p. 15.

SOLENIDA!.—RAZOR-SHELL. 39

Cockle Soup.—After the cockles have been well washed,
place them in a stewpan over a slow fire till they open,
and then take them out of their shells. Put an ounce
of butter or lard, some finely-chopped parsley, a sliced
onion, a little pepper, and a teaspoonful of anchovy,
into a saucepan, with a little flour, and fry till it be-
comes brown. To this add a pint of water, or a pint
and a half of milk, and, when it boils, place in your
cockles. Let it boil again for half an hour, then serve.
The cockles, being large, will require to be cut in halves
or quarters, previous to their being put into the soup;
and the quantity required would be about 2 lb. weight.

In the Bay of Naples, where these cockles abound,
they are eaten, as we are told by Poli,* either raw or
cooked with oil, pepper, salt, herbs, and bread-crumbs,
and are called coecciola at Naples, and cappa tonda at
Venice ; and Major Byng Hall+ speaks of cockles stewed
in oil as being greatly prized by the natives of Madrid.

Fam. SOLENID 4.
SOLEN.—RAZOR-SHELL.

SoLeEN sinieua, Linneus. Razor Shell.—Shell
straight, open at both extremities. Two teeth in left
valve, and one in the other; exterior covered with an
olivaceous epidermis, concentrically striated. Breadth
1 inch, length from 7 to 8 inches.

The razor or spout-fishes are all good for food, but
Solen siliqua, which is the largest of our British species, 1s
the one generally collected for that purpose. Solen ensis

* <Testacea utriusque Siciliz,’ 1795.
+ ‘Queen’s Messenger,’ p. 341.

4O EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

is eaten in the Feroe Isles, and is there called langskoel ;
and Solen marginatus, commonly known as vagina, is
greatly prized as an article of food by the Neapolitans.
This last-named species has a wide range abroad, but is
not so common in this country as the two above-men-
tioned shells, though it is abundant in some localities,
amongst others Rye, ‘l'enby, and the Channel Islands.

The razor-sheli is the aulo of the Romans; and Aris-
totle, in his ‘ History of Animals,’ gives a description of
it, stating that “it buries itself in the sand; can rise
and sink in, but does not leave, its hole ; is soon alarmed
by noise, and buries itself rapidly ; and that the valves
of the shell are connected together at both sides, and
their surface smooth.’’*

In the time of Athenzeus it was much eaten, and highly
valued, if we may judge from the following quotations
in his ‘ Deipnosophists :’’—

“ Araros says, in his ‘ Campylion ?—

*¢¢ These now are most undoubted delicacies,
Cockles and solens.’
And Sophron says, in his ‘ Mimi ’—
“<A. What are these long cockles, O my friend,
Which you do think so much of ?
iB Solens, to be sure ;
This, too, is the sweet-flesh’d cockle, dainty food,
The dish much loved by widows.’ ”+

Again, Athenzeus says :—‘ But the solens, as they
are called by some, though some call them addou and
dovaxes, or pipes, and some, too, call them dvuyes, or
claws, are very juicy, but the juice is bad, and they are
very glutinous. And the male fish are striped, and not

* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Moll. vol. i. p. 240.
+ Atheneeus, vol. i. b. iii. p. 144, Bohn’s Classical Library.

SOLENIDZ.—RAZOR-SHELL. 4]

all of one colour, but the female fish is all of one colour,
and much sweeter than the male; and they are eaten
boiled and fried, but they are best of all when roasted
on the coals till their shells open. And the people who
collect this sort of oyster are called soleniste, as Pheenias
the Eresian relates in his book which is entitled ‘The
Killing of Tyrants by way of Punishment ;’ where he
speaks as follows :—‘ Philoxenus, who was called the
Solenist, became a tyrant from having been a dema-
gogue. In the beginning he got his living by being a
fisherman, and a hunter after solens; and so, having
made a little money, he advanced and got a good pro-
perty. ”?

On some parts of our shores great quantities of razor-
shells are collected, sometimes by putting a little salt
on the holes, which irritates the fish and makes it rise
to the surface; and again in the following manner, as
described by Messrs. Forbes and Hanley :—“ A long
narrow wire, bent and sharpened at the end, is suddenly
thrust into the hollows of the sands indicative of the
presence of these animals, and, passing between the
valves, the barbed portion fixes itself, on retraction, in
the animal, and forces it to the surface.” At Tenby
baskets-full are often brought to the door, and they are
considered very good to eat. In Japan they are said to
be so highly prized that, by the express order of the
prince of that country, ‘it is forbid to fish them, until a
sufficient quantity hath been provided for the emperor’s
table.”’*

In the Bay of Concepcion are several species of shell-
fish highly esteemed, and Ulloa especially mentions some
Venuses and a number of razor-shells.

* ‘Glimpses of Ocean Life,’ by John Harper, F.R.S.

42 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

The German name for this shell is scheidenmuschel —
or messerschalenmuschel, and the French call it manche
de couteau, and coutoye, and the Andalusians, muergo.

At Naples it is considered a great delicacy, and quite
a recherché morsel, too expensive for the common peo-
ple, a dishful selling at 6 carlines, which is equal to 2s.
of our English money. It is cooked in the following
manner :—

Razor-fish Soup.—Take 2 1b. of razor-fish, and, after
they have been well washed, put them into a saucepan,
and keep them on a slow fire till they open, then take
out the fish from the shells. Chop up some parsley
very fine, and put it, with a tablespoonful of oil or an
ounce of butter, into a saucepan, and fry until it be-
comes brown. ‘To this add a pint of water, or a pint and
a half of milk, and, when boiling, place in your fish,
with a little salt and pepper, and let it boil again for
half an hour. Add toasted bread before it is served up,
or boil some vermicelli with it, of course adding more
water.

To cook Razor-fish.—Boil them for ten minutes or so,
then take them out of their shells, and fry them with
butter or lard. Add a little salt and pepper.

Another way to cook “ Solens.’—Stew them in milk —
till they are tender, add pepper, salt, and butter is a
great addition.

The razor-fish is much prized on the Scotch coast,
where it is merely boiled, and eaten with salt and pepper.
Poli says that it is good either raw, or fried with bread-
crumbs, pepper, oil, and lemon-juice.

43

Fam. CYPRINID/.
ISOCARDIA.—OXHORN-COCK LE.

Isocarp1A cor, Linneus. AHeart-shell or Oxhorn
Cockle.—Shell very strong, nearly spherical, heart-shaped,
concentrically striated, equivalve, smooth, with a dark
reddish-brown epidermis; beaks very prominent and
curled ; two primary teeth in the right valve, lying pa-
rallel to each other ; in the left valve, the outer tooth is
indented and is large, the other thin and laminar. The
lateral tooth strong and elongated, situated under the
ligament, which is external.

This magnificent mollusk is very partially distributed,
though plentiful in some places. Specimens have been
sent to me from Dublin Bay, where I grieve to say they
are getting very scarce, and also from Brixham, where
they are highly prized by the fishermen. They do not
however often bring them on shore, though they bring
them up in the dredges, unless they wish to make a pre-
sent of a dish to some friend, or know where they can
dispose of them. They call them “ 'Torbay-noses,” and
they are also known by the names of ‘‘ Oxhorn-cockles”
and “ Heart-shells ;”? in France, ceur de beuf, in Hol-
land, zots-kappen, or fool’s cap, and at Naples, cocciola
zizza. Mr. J. G. Jeffreys, quoting an interesting ac-
count of Isocardia cor, by the Rev. James Bulwer
(who kept a specimen in a vessel of sea-water, and
was therefore able to study the habits of the animal),
given in the ‘Zoological Journal,’ states, “that the
animal appears insensible both to sound and lght, as
the presence or absence of either did not interrupt its
movements, but its sense of feeling appeared to be

44 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

very delicate; minute substances being dropped into
the orifice of the mantle instantly excited the animal,
and a column of water strongly directed, expelled
them from the shell. With so much strength was the
water in some instances ejected that it rose above the
surface of three inches of superincumbent fluid... .
Locomotion very confined; it is capable, with the assis-
tance of its foot, which it uses in the same manner (but
in a much more limited degree) as the Cardiacea, of
fixing itself firmly in the sand, generally choosing to
have the umbones covered by it, and the orifices of the
tubes of the mantle nearly perpendicular.”’*

“Resting in this position on the margin of a sand
bank of which the surrounding soil is mud, at too great
a depth to be disturbed by storms, the Jsocardia of our
Irish Sea patiently collects its food from the surrounding
element, assisted in its choice by the current it is capa-
ble of creating by the alternate opening and closing of
its valves.”

The Mediterranean species of this bivalve are smaller
than those found on our coasts, and there are no less
than “five or six kinds known in the European and
Indian seas.” +

Epicharmus, in his play of the ‘ Marriage of Hebe,’
mentions shell-fish of all kinds, and says :—

“And bring too the black
Cockle, which keeps the cockle-hunter on the stretch.’’£
This may possibly refer to the oxhorn-cockle.

The wife of a coastguardsman who had lived many

years at Brixham, and had often luxuriated in a dish of
* Brit. Conchol., by Jeffreys, vol. 1. pp. 300, 301.

+ ‘ Manuel de Conchyliologie,’ par le Dr. J. C. Chenu.
} Athenzeus, Bolin’s Class. Lib. b. iii. p. 142.

MYTILIDZ.—MUSSEL. AD

these delicious shell-fish, gave me the following recipe
for cooking them :—

To dress Torbay-noses.—‘‘ Wash the shells, then boil
them for ten minutes or so; take the fish out of the
shells and put them into a frying-pan with some butter,
a little salt and pepper, and fry till they are of a good
brown colour; then serve.”

Fam. MYTILID.
MYTILUS.—MUSSEL.

Myrtitvus eputis, Linneus. Common Mussel.—Shell
equivalved, wedge-shaped, rather pointed at the beaks.
In the hinge are three or four tooth-like crenulations.
Ligament internal or nearly so, and very strong. Colour
of the shell a greyish blue, sometimes radiated with
darker blue. pidermis olivaceous.

The mussel is called in Anglo-Saxon musel, muscel,
muscule, muscla, which names mean that which instantly
retires on being touched; in Dutch, mossel, in Danish,
muskel, in German, muschel, in French, moule, at Bor-
deaux, charron (from the village of that name, where
there is a large mussel trade) ; in Feroese, kreaklingur,
and in Andalusia, longherone. Mussels are used for food
in many places, and also for bait, “and on some parts of
the Northumberland coast the fishermen have made mus-
sel gardens for the preservation of these shell-fish ; they
are formed by piling up stones round certain places
on the seashore, between tide-marks, and are carefully
watched by their proprietors.”*

M. de Quatrefages, in his interesting work, ‘ Rambles

* A Book for the Seaside,’ p. 100.

46 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

of a Naturalist,’ gives an account of the origin and de-
velopment of the mussel-trade on the French coast.
* An Irishman of the name of Walton was shipwrecked on
the coast in 1235, near the little village of Esnandes, in
the Bay of Aiguillon, and was the only person saved out
of all the crew of the ill-fated vessel. He amply repaid
the services which had been rendered him; some sheep
were saved from the wreck, which he crossed with the
animals of the country, producing a breed of sheep
which is still held m high estimation. He invented a
kind of net, the ‘allouret, for catching shore birds
which skim the surface of the water at twilight or dark,
and in order to make these nets thoroughly effective, it
was necessary to go to the centre of the immense bed of
mud, where the birds sought their food, and to secure a
number of poles to support the nets, which were between
300 and 400 yards in length. On examining these poles,
Walton discovered that they were covered with mussel
spawn. He then increased the number of his poles, and
after various attempts he constructed his first artificial
mussel-bed, or bouchot. At the level of the lowest tides
he drove into the mud stakes that were strong enough
to resist the force of the waves, and placed them in two
rows about a yard distant from each other. This double
line of poles formed an angle, whose base was directed
towards the shore, and whose apex pointed to the sea.
This palisade was roughly fenced in with long branches,
and a narrow opening having been left at the extremity
of the angle, wicker-work cases were arranged in such a
manner as to stop any fishes that were being carried back
by the retreating tide. It was soon found inexpedient
to trust only to the chance of the currents and waves
that might bring in the young mussels to the poles and

MYTILIDE.—MUSSEL. 4.7

fences, and men frequently went to a very great distance
in search of the young mollusks,—even as far as the
plateau of Chatelaillon.”

M. de Quatrefages further tells us that the little
mussels that appear in the spring are called seeds;
they are scarcely larger than lentils till towards the
end of May, when they rapidly increase in size, and
are then called renouvelains, and in July are ready for
transplanting. They are detached from the bouchots
which are situated at lowest tide-mark, and are then
put into pockets or bags made of old nets, “ which are
placed upon the fences that are not quite so far advanced
into sea.” The young mussels attach themselves by
means of their dyssus all round the pockets or bags.
As they increase in size and become crowded together,
they are taken out and distributed over other poles
lying nearer the shore, and the full-grown mussels which
are ready for sale are planted on the douchots nearest the
shore. The fishermen gather enormous quantities of
fresh mussels every day, and take them in carts or on
the backs of horses “to La Rochelle and other places,
from whence they are sent as far as Tours, Limoges,
Bordeaux.”

“Tt appears that the French mussel-breeders have
discovered that mussels which live suspended to piles, or
ropes of vessels, nets, etc., attain to a larger size, than
those which live on the bottom, be it sandy, rocky, or
muddy ; they therefore suspend thick ropes to wooden
piles, and the mussels adhere by their byssus to them,
the ropes are then tightened a little to prevent the ani-
mals lying on the bottom.’”’*

The Billingsgate market is chiefly supplied with mus-

* Phipson’s ‘ Utilization of Minute Life,’ pp. 163, 164.

48 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

sels from Holland, the east coast of England, Cornwall,
and Devonshire, in August and September, though
smaller quantities are received from other parts of our
coasts, besides those above mentioned. About ten or
twenty tons weight arrive at a time, though, of course,
the quantity varies according to the season, and they are
sold at ls. a measure. In the evidence given before the
Fisheries Commission, at Exeter, December 24, 1863,
it was stated, that the price of these shell-fish taken in
the estuary at Lympstone was 8s. per sack of ten pecks,
but that the supply was decreasing.

Dr. Knapp informed Messrs. Forbes and Hanley
that the quantity of mussels consumed in Edinburgh
aud Leith is about 10 bushels per week, “say for forty
weeks in the year, in all 400 bushels annually. Each
bushel of mussels, when freed and shelled from all re-
fuse, will probably contain from 3 to 4 pints of the ani-
mals, or about 900 to 1000, according to their size.
Taking the latter number, there will be consumed, in
Edinburgh and Leith, about 400,000 mussels. This is a
mere trifle compared to the enormous number used as
bait for all sorts of fish, especially haddocks, cod, ling,
halibut, plaice, skate, etc.; and at Newhaven, the total
consumption of mussels for bait may be reckoned at
4,320,000 annually. There are nearly as many used at
Musselburgh, Fisherrow, etc., and other places on the
Frith of Forth, and we may calculate that 30,000,000
or 40,000,000 of mussels are used for bait alone by the
fishermen of that district each year.’’*

The mussel has the power of attaching itself by means
of its “ byssus” to rocks and stones ; and we read that
the bridge at Bideford, in Devonshire, cannot be kept

* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Mollusca, vol. ii. pp. 174, 175.

MYTILIDH.—MUSSEL. 49

in repair by mortar, owing to the rapidity of the tide.
“The corporation, therefore, keep boats to bring mus-
sels to it, and the interstices of the bridge are filled by
hand with these shellfish, and it is supported entirely
by the strong byssus or threads these mussels fix to the
stonework.’’* .

This byssus proceeds from a gristly shaft, which, Mr.
Jeffreys states, appears to support the bundle of filaments
like the handle of a broom; and Aristotle mentions this
shell-fish in his list of cartilaginous fish.

So valuable are mussels towards the protection of the
shores from the inundations of the sea on some parts of
our coasts, that it becomes necessary to prevent their
being gathered in some places (see ‘ Times,’ August 7th,
1865). An action for trespass was brought some time
ago for the purpose of establishing the right of the lord
of the manor to prevent the inhabitants of Heacham
from taking mussels from the seashore. The locality is
the foreshore of the sea, running from Lynn in a north-
westerly direction towards Hunstanton, Norfolk ; and
“the nature of the shore is such that it requires con-
stant attention, and no little expenditure of money, to
maintain its integrity, and guard against the serious
danger of inundations of the sea.” A large quantity of
shingle, seaweed, and mussels is always to be seen, and
beds of mussels extend for miles along the shore, and
mix with the seaweed and shingle, which get fixed on
the artificial jetties running into the sea, attaching them-
selves by means of the byssus to these embanking de-
fences, thereby rendering them firm, and thus acting as
barriers against the sea; therefore, while it is important
for the inhabitants, who claim a right by custom, to

* ‘Glimpses of Ocean Life,’ p. 179.

50 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

take mussels and other shellfish from the shore, it is
equally important for the lord of the manor to do his
utmost to prevent these natural friends of his embank-
ments and jetties from being removed in large quanti-
ties from his part of the shore.

Neumann tells us that calcined mussel-shells make
strong lime, and bind quickly, and that shell-lme is
generally considered stronger than stone-lime. Mussel-
shells, when polished, make pretty pincushions and
needlebooks, and at the colourists, they are filled with
gold, silver, and bronze, and sold for heraldic painting
and illuminating. It was in one of these shells, also,
in which the witch, in the quaint old story, put to sea
for the purpose of wrecking her enemy’s ships.

A large species of mussel, called awabi or awabee, is
used in Japan as a new year’s gift. The day is spent in
paying respects, visiting, and giving presents to friends
and relatives, and they mostly consist of awabi. <Awabdi,
in days of yore, were the first sustenance and support of
the Japanese, as acorns were formerly the primitive diet
of the inhabitants of Europe, and the awadi is the em-
blem, or rather the memorial, of the frugality of their
forefathers.*

There is another purpose for which these shells are
used, which would astonish the ‘ Truefitts ” of the pre-
sent day ; for Grey, in his ‘ Australia,’ mentions that
amongst the contents of a native woman’s bag was a
mussel-shell for cutting the hair.

There is an interesting account in Captain O’Brien’s
‘Adventures during the late War,’ of the method of
fishing for mussels in the Bay of Concepcion. A man
and woman in a canoe push off from the shore, to a certain

* ‘Religious Ceremonies,’ vol. iv. p. 315.

MYTILIDA.—MUSSEL. 51

depth, when the man with a long pole ascertains the depth
of the mussel-bed. This pole, which has asharpened end,
is struck into the bed, and serves as the anchor or moor-
ing for the boat; the woman, with her arms round it,
makes it her line of descent. With this, as a conductor,
she slides or slips down, and soon reappears, with her
arms crossed round the pole, but with both hands as
full as they can hold of mussels. Having deposited her
handfuls in the canoe, she descends again and again six
or eight times, until her cargo is complete. Upon Cap-
tain O’Brien’s remonstrating with a man for imposing
such a dangerous duty upon a woman, instead of under-
going it himself, he explained to him, that this diving
was a privilege of the sex, and that no man would dare
to be so unmanly as to rob a woman of her birthright.
These Chilian, or Bay of Concepcion belles, sell their
produce in the market for dresses and finery.

The usual size of the common mussel is about two
inches and a half in length, and about half that breadth ;
but in 1862 I procured two specimens from Exmouth,
which had been dredged, the largest measuring five
inches in length and two and a half in breadth, the other
four inches long and one and a quarter wide. Mr. Jef-
freys also mentions having a specimen which measures
nearly five inches in length. Though mussels are a
valuable article of food, and considered wholesome, yet
many cases of poisoning by mussels have occurred ; but
it may generally be traced to their having been gathered
from either the sides of docks, or piers, where there are
copper bolts or nails, or from ships that are copper-
bottomed ; or else from the neighbourhood of large town
sewers, the sewerage water running over the rocks on
which the mussels grow. In the ‘Field,’ November

E2

52 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

15th, 1862, is an interesting account of an experiment
made on oysters that had become so impregnated with
copper as to be as green as verdigris. They were taken
from Falmouth harbour. An attempt was made to
extract the copper from them; and, after putting a
hundred or more into a large crucible, reducing them
to ashes, and continuing to increase the heat until
the copper was melted, the produce was a bright bead
of pure copper, which, according to the description,
would be about the size of a large pin’s head. Mr.
Penwarne, who communicated this article to the ‘ Field,’
adds, that the oysters may have lain on a lode, or the
copper might have accumulated from the wash of the
stamping-mills. This proves, without doubt, that
shell-fish can be impregnated with copper, or other poi-
sonous substances, which probably would affect those
who ate them. Some persons consider that mussels are
unwholesome if a small species of crab (Pinnotheres
pisum or Pinnotheres veterum), which is sometimes
found in their shells, is not carefully taken out; others,
that they are only fit for food in the winter months;
and by some on account of their feeding on the spawn
of the star-fish, which is poisonous.* It is said that
if a silver spoon is boiled with the mussels, and it turns
black, it proves that they are poisonous, and not fit to
be eaten. But, whatever may be the cause of the
wholesale poisoning by these shell-fish, they have been
the means of saving many poor from starvation in times
of scarcity. Mr. Patterson, of Belfast, in his ‘ Introduc-
tion to Zoology,’ mentions having been informed by an
old inhabitant of Holywood, near the above-mentioned
town, that in 1792 or 1793 there was a great drought
* Jeffreys, Brit. Conchology, vol. ii. p. 109.

MYTILID#.—PEARLS. 53

prevailing, which caused much distress, and that, in the
month of June or July, twenty poor families from the
interior of the country encamped on the roadside, near
the beach to the west of Holywood, remaining there about
five weeks, subsisting partly on such vegetable matter
as they could pick up about the hedgerows and fences,
but principally upon the mussels which are so abundant
on the extensive mud-banks of the neighbouring coast.
No instance of disease from this diet occurred, and during
that summer the poorer classes in the village appeared
quite as healthy as in other years, though mussels formed
their chief food.

Athenzeus says that mussels are moderately nutritious,
and digestible ; the best being the Ephesian kind, which
are particularly good when taken about the end of au-
tumn (vol. 1. p. 150).

In the Feroe Isles, the large horse-mussel, Mytilus
modiolus,is eaten, and they call it in Feroese ova. Mr.
Alder tells us that at Rothesay they are collected for
food* (though not so delicate as Mytilus edulis), and in
the Shetland Isles for bait, where they are known by
the name of yoags. ‘They are also eaten in the north
of Ireland, but not considered very good, on account of
their strong scent and flavour; but they are capital
bait for cod. At Tenby they call Mytilus modiolus the
poisonous mussel, and affirm that no one ever ventures
to eat it.

Pearls are occasionally found in the common mussel,
and also in the oyster, scallop, cockle, periwinkle,
and pinna; but they are generally inferior in size and
quality to those of the freshwater pearl-mussel, Unio
margaritiferus; and Mr. Beckman, in his ‘ History of

* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Mollusca, vol. ii. p. 185.

54, EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Inventions,’ states that real pearls are found under the
shield of the sea-hare (Aplysia), as has been observed
by Bohadsch, in his book ‘ De Animalibus Marinis’
(Dresde, 1761). Our Scotch pearl-fishery has, within
the last few years, been most successfully revived; and
in 1860 Mr. Moritz Unger, a foreigner, on making
a tour through the districts where the pearl-mussel
abounds, found that the pearl-fishing was not altoge-
ther forgotten, many of the people having pearls in
their possession, of which they did not know the value.
He purchased all he could obtain; consequently, in
the following year, many persons devoted their spare
time to pearl-fishing, and during the summer months
made as much as £8 to £10 weekly. The sum-
mer of 1862 was most favourable for fishing, owing
to the dryness of the season, and the average price
was from £2. 6s. to 10s., £5 being a high price. They
now fetch prices varying from £5 to £20. The Queen
purchased one Scotch pearl for 40 guineas; others at
high prices have been bought by the Empress of the
French and the Duchess of Hamilton; and Mr. Unger
has a necklace of these pearls valued at £350.* Pearl-
mussels are found in Lochs Earn, Tay, Rannoch, and
Lubnaig, and in the Don, the Leith, and in many of
the other Scotch streams; also in some of the Welsh
rivers, from whence I have received fine specimens;
in Ireland, near Enniskillen, and in the river Bann,
which is noted for its fine pearls. They wade for them
in the shallow pools, or take them by thrusting a long
stick between the valves when the shell is open. When
a number have been collected they are left to decom-
pose, when the pearls drop out.t They may also be
* The ‘ Times,’ December 24th, 1863. + Tour in Ulster.

MYTILIDZ.—PEARLS, 55

found in Kerry, in Donegal, in the Moy near Foxford,
and in many of the other Irish rivers; and Mr. Buckland
states, in the ‘ Field,’ December 10th, 1864, that they
abound near Oughterard, and that a man called “ Jemmy
the Pearl-catcher” told him he knew when a mussel had
a pearl in it, without requiring to open it first, because
“she (the mussel) sits upright with her mouth in the
mud, and her back is crooked,’’—that is, it is corrugated
like a cow’s horn. Bruce, in his “ Travels,” observes
that the pearl-fishers of Bahrein informed him that they
had no expectation of finding a pearl when the shell was
smooth and perfect, but were sure to find some when the
shell was distorted, and deformed; and he adds that this
applies equally to the Scotch pearl-mussels. In France
they also collect pearls from the pearl-mussels, and they
generally sell them as foreign pearls. At Omagh, in
the north of Ireland, there was formerly a pearl-fishery ;
and Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick, about 1094, sent a pre-
sent of Irish pearls to Anselm, Archbishop of Canter-
bury. Scotch pearls were in demand abroad as early
as the twelfth century. Suetonius says that the great
motive of Czsar’s coming to Britain was to obtain its
pearls, and states that they were so large that he used
to try the weight of them by his hand, and dedicated a
breastplate made of them to Venus Genetrix.* Accord-
ing to Pliny, the island of Taprobane (Ceylon) was most
productive of pearls; and he considers that the most
valuable were those found in the vicinity of Arabia, in
the Persian Gulf.

Oriental pearls are found in the Meleagrina marga-
ritifera, or pearl-oyster ; and Chares of Mytilene, in his
seventh book of his ‘ Histories of Alexander,’ tells us

* Camden’s ‘ Britannia,’ p. 962.

56 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

that “in the Indian Sea, and also off the coast of Ar-
menia, Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, a fish is caught
very like an oyster; large and of oblong shape, contain-
ing within its shell flesh which is plentiful, white, and
very fragrant, and from it the men pick out white bones,
called by them pearls. And of these they make neck-
laces and chains for the hands and feet, of which the
Persians are very fond, as are the Medes and all Asia-
tics, esteeming them as much more valuable than golden
ornaments.”* Occasionally, they are called stones and
bones by Greek authors; and Tertullian calls them mala-
dies of shell-fish and warts—“ concharum vitia et ver-
rucas.” Pliny statest that when pearls grow old they
become thick and adhere to the shell, from which they can
only be separated by a file; again, that pearls which
have one surface flat and the other spherical, opposite to
the plane side, are for that reason called tympania, or
tambour-pearls, “‘quibus una tantum est facies, et ab ea
rotunditas, aversis planities, ob id tympania nominantur.”
The ‘‘tympana,”’ or hand-drems of the ancients, were
often of a semi-globular shape, like the kettle-drums of
the present day. Shells which had pearls still adhering
to them were used as boxes for unguents.{ Long pear-
shaped pearls, called elenchi, had their peculiar value, re-
sembling the alabaster boxes in form which were used for
ointments. Harrings were invented by the Roman
ladies, called “crotalia, or castanet pendants, from the
pearls rattling as they knocked against each other.’’§
The story of Cleopatra swallowing the pearl, in order

3

* Athenzus, vol. i. p. 155.

+ Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. b. ix. p. 432.

+ Pliny, Nat. Hist. b. ix. p. 432, and note.
§ Pliny’s Nat. Hist. vol. i. b. ix. p. 485.

MYTILID#.—PEARLS. 57

that she might say she had expended on a single enter-
tainment ten millions of sesterces, is too well known to
require repeating here; suffice it to say that Pliny in-
forms us, that before the time of Antony and Cleopatra,
Clodius, the son of the tragic actor A!sopus, had done the
same at Rome; “he, having dissolved in vinegar (or at
least attempted to do so) a pearl worth about £8000,
which he took from the earring of Cecilia Metella.’’*
Pliny further adds that, by way of glorification to his pa-
late, Clodius Alsopus was desirous of trying what was the
taste of pearls, and as he found it wonderfully pleasing,
that he might not be the only one to know it, he had a
pearl set before each of his guests for him to swallow.” +
It was not unusual for the Romans to adorn their horses,
and other favourite animals, with splendid necklaces ;t
and we are told that Incitatus, the favourite horse of
the Emperor Caligula, wore a pearl collar. The Roman
ladies even wore pearls at night, that in their sleep they
might be conscious of the possession of these valuable
gems. Julius Cesar prohibited the use of purple and
pearls to all persons who were not of a certain rank, and
the latter also to unmarried women.$ From the twelfth
to the sixteenth centuries, extravagance in jewellery was
carried to an unlimited extent at the Courts in Europe;
and from the reign of Francis I.to that of Louis XIII.,the
greater part of the jewels worn were set with pearls, and
these latter were worn in preference to all other orna-
ments until the death of Maria Theresa of Austria.|| The
French call irregular-shaped pearls “Perles barroques,”

* Hor. ii. Sat. ii. 239. { Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. b. ix. ch. 59.
{ Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities : ‘‘ Monile,” p. 768.
§ ‘Gems and Jewels,’ p. 27, Madame de Barrera.

|| ‘Gems and Jewels,’ p. 58.

58 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

and these malformations were ingeniously utilized by
the fanciful taste of the Cinque Cento period.* No
doubt many of my readers will remember the specimens
exhibited in the loan collection at the South Kensing-
ton Museum. One was a Cinque Cento pendant in the
form of a siren; the head, neck, and arms of white enamel,
the body made of a very large “pearl barroque,” and a
fish’s tail enamelled, and set with rubies. It belonged to
Colonei Guthrie, and is of fine Italian work of the six-
teenth century. Another, in the possession of Messrs.
Farrer, was a gold pendant jewel in the form of a ship
with three masts, a large pearl barroque forming the
hull, etc. The wedding dress of Anne of Cleves was
“a gown of rich cloth of gold, embroidered with great
flowers of large orient pearls.” The unfortunate Mary,
Queen of Scots, possessed pearls which were considered
the finest in Europe, and these were purchased in a most
iniquitous manner by Queen Elizabeth from the Earl of
Moray, for a third part of their value. Miss Strickland
states (in her ‘ Lives of the Queens of Scotland,’ pages
82 and 83, vol. vi.) that if anything further than the
letters of Drury and Throckmorton be required to prove
the confederacy between the English Government and
the Earl of Moray, it will only be necessary to expose
the disgraceful fact of the traffic for Queen Mary’s costly
parure of pearls, her own personal property, which she
had brought from France. A few days before she ef-
fected her escape from Lochleven Castle, the Regent
sent these with a choice selection of her jewels, very
secretly, to London, by his trusty agent, Sir Nicholas
Elphinstone, who undertook to negotiate their sale with
the assistance of Throckmorton. Queen Elizabeth had
* ¢Precious Stones, Gems,’ etc., by Rev. C. W. King, p. 232,

MYTILIDZ.-—PEARLS. 59

the first offer of them, and the French Ambassador thus
describes them :—‘*‘ There are six cordons of large pearls
strung as paternosters; but there are five-and-twenty
separate from the rest, much finer and larger than those
which are strung. These are, for the most part, like
black muscades” (a very rare and valuable variety of
pearl, with the deep purple colour and bloom of the
muscatel grape) .*

They were appraised by various merchants, but Queen
Elizabeth was determined to have them at the sum
named by the jeweller, though he would have made his
profit by selling them again. Others valued them at
three thousand pounds sterling ; some Italian merchants
at twelve thousand crowns; and a Genevese at sixteen
thousand crowns; but twelve thousand was the price
Queen Elizabeth was allowed to have them for, and Ca-
therine de Medicis was quite as eager to purchase these
pearls as her good cousin of England, knowing they
were worth nearly double the sum at which they had
been valued in London, having presented some of them
herself to Mary. She therefore used every endeavour
to recover them, but the French Ambassador wrote to
inform her that it was impossible to accomplish her
desire of obtaining the Queen of Scots’ pearls; “ for,
as he had told her from the first, they were intended
for the gratification of the Queen of England, who
had been allowed to purchase them at her own price,
and they were now in her hands.” The possession of
wealth and jewelsis not always a source of happiness or
benefit to their possessors, if we may judge “from the
above-mentioned fact in history, and indeed it is even
more clearly exemplified in the case of the eminent Mogul,

* See note, ‘ Lives of the Queens of Scotland,’ vol. i. p. 83.

60 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

who died of hunger during a grievous famine, which de-
populated part of Guzerat. A large mausoleum or Ma-
hometan tomb was erected to his memory in the suburbs
of Cambay, with an inscription, telling us that during
this terrible scarcity the deceased had offered a measure
of pearls for an equal quantity of grain, but not being
able to procure it, he died of hunger.*

A pear] is described by Madame de Barrera, as nearly
the size of a pigeon’s egg, and pear-shaped; it weighed
250 carats, and was known as “ La Peregrina,” and be-
longed to the crown of Spain. It was brought from
Panama in 1560 by Don Diego de Temes, who presented
it to Philip II. “It was then valued at fourteen thou-
sand ducats, but Freco, the king’s jeweller, having seen
it, said it might be worth £14,000, £80,000, £50,000,
£100,000, as such a pearl was priceless.” In 1779 a
pearl, which from its shape was called the Sleeping Lion,
was offered for sale at St. Petersburg, by a Dutchman;
it weighed 578 carats, and was bought in India for
£4500.

The largest pearl known, I believe, is the one which
was exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, in the
loan collection, in the possession of A. J. B. Beresford
Hope, Esq. It weighs 3 oz., is 2 inches long, 43 inches in
circumference, and is set as a pendant.

The most productive pearl-fishery banks he on the
west coast of Ceylon, between the eighth and ninth de-
grees of north latitude, near the level dreary beach of
Condatchy, Aripo, and Manaar.t ‘The other principal
fisheries are those of the Bahrein Islands in the Persian —
Gulf, Coromandel, Catifa in Arabia (which produced

* Forbes’s ‘ Oriental Memoirs,’ vol. ii. p. 18.
+ ‘ Voyage of the Novara,’ vol. i. pp. 379, 380, 381.

MYTILIDZ.—PEARL FISHERIES. 61

the pearls purchased by Tavernier for £110,000), the
Algerine coast, the Sooloo Islands, and, in the western
world, the Bay of Panama and the coast of Columbia,
which had formerly some very valuable pear! fisheries,
for Seville alone is said to have imported thence upwards
of 697 lb. in the year 1587. The hardships and suf-
ferings endured by the divers are very great. After ©
a long dive, we are told that the natives of the Paamuto
Islands may be seen squatting on the reefs with blood
gushing from the ears and nose, and become quite blind,
for ten or twenty minutes. .

At the Bahrein fisheries, the trade is in the hands
of the merchants, who bear hard on the divers; and
even those who make the greatest exertions in diving
can scarcely obtain a sufficiency of food.* In Ceylon,
the fourth part of the pearls brought up is the diver’s
share. In each boat are ten divers, each with an assist-
aut. Before the divers descend a number of quaint
ceremonies are gone through with incantations, both in
the boats and on the shore. So superstitious are these
men, that not one of their number, Christian or idolater,
would continue their employment without the counte-
nance of the sorcerer, and in 1857 Government was
compelled to pay these impostors. The chief shark-
charmer was a Roman Catholic.t The same authority
further states that the utmost depth in which a diver can
remain safely is about seventy feet. They can remain
under water from fifty to sixty seconds, and the diving
is carried on from five to six hours daily ; and each of
the ten divers can in the course of the day bring up from
1000 to 4000 pearl shells. A single oyster contains some-

* M‘Culloch’s Commercial Dictionary.
+ ‘Voyage of the Novara,’ vol. i. p. 332.

62 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

times thirty or forty pearls, of which some may be worth
a sovereign on the spot. The small valueless seed-pearls
are burnt, and sold as pearl lime to the wealthy Malays,
to add to the betel and cabbage-uuts which they chew.
The Ceylovese mix the lustreless pearls with grain, and
feed their poultry with them, in whose crops the pearls
regain their former brilliancy after a few minutes’ grind-
ing. The crops are slit up, and the pearls are taken out.
It is said to be done by other Indian races, but that the
pearls lose weight.+ In India the priests of Buddha
keep up the strange belief as to the origin of pearls
which I have mentioned elsewhere, and make it a pre-
text for exacting what they term “ charity oysters” from
the divers and boatmen of their faith for the use of
Buddha, who, when thus propitiated, will make the fish
yield more pearls in future seasons. {

The pearl fishery of Ceylon in 1864 suffered con-
siderably, owing to an irruption of the skate fish, which
was said to have killed the oysters; and the loss of re-
venue was calculated at £50,000.

The common freshwater Unio (Unio tumidus), and
also Unio pictorum, both produce pearls, but they are
generally small, and of a bad colour; sometimes I have
found several in one shell, and, again, I have opened
many, and not been successful.

A species of freshwater mussel, Anodonta cygnea, is
said to be eaten in the county of Leitrim by the pea-
santry, and Unionide are eaten in the south of Europe,
either roasted in their shells and drenched with oil, or
covered with breadcrumbs and scalloped; and, accord-
ing to Dr. Wilhelm Gottlob Rosenhauer, Unio Requienii

* ‘Voyage of the Novara,’ vol. i. p. 385.
+ ‘Household Words.’ “ My Pearl-fishing Expedition,” vol. iii. p. 80.

MYTILIDZ.—MUSSEL. 63

and Unio litoralis, which are found near Granada, in
the river Jenil, are often brought to the market; but
when the fish are taken out of their shells and cooked,
they are described as very tough food. -Anodonte and
Unionide (Anodontes et Muleties) are employed by the
fishermen in the neighbourhood of Nantes for bait ;* and
I have occasionally used Dreissena polymorpha for the
same purpose, which seemed to be greatly appreciated
by the fish in the pond where I was fishing, as they
greedily sucked off the bait as fast as it was put on the
hook. The Dreissene were brought from the canal at
Sawley, Leicestershire, and turned into the ponds, where
they have thriven wonderfully, and are the favourite food
of water rats, if one may judge from the number of
empty shells deposited on the banks amongst the rushes,
in small heaps sometimes two or three inches deep. In
some countries the shells of the large Anodonte are used
for skimming milk.

In the north-western part of Australia, a freshwater
mussel forms a staple article of food, while in the south-
western part of the continent the natives will not touch
them, but regard them with a superstitious dread and
abhorrence. In Grey’s ‘ Australia,’ he gives an account
of a native, Kaiber by uname, whom he ordered to ga-
ther some of these shellfish for food, as they were nearly
dying from hunger, but the man steadfastly refused, as
he affirmed that by touching them, the native sorcerer,
or Boyl-yas, would acquire a mysterious influence over
him, which would end in his death. At last, however,
he was ordered to bring some instantly, as Mr. Grey
intended eating them. After thinking for a moment or
so, Kaiber walked away for this purpose, but bitterly

* ‘Catalogue des Radiaires,’ etc., par Frédéric Cailliaud de Nantes.

GA, EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

lamented his fate whilst occupied with his task. It
was true, he said, he had not died of hunger or thirst,
but this was all owing to his courage and strong sinews ;
yet, what would these avail against the supernatural
powers of the Boyl-yas. “They will eat me at night,
whilst worn-out by fatigue I must sleep.” However,
the mussels were brought, and Mr. Grey made a meal
of them.* It is not only of late years that Mytilus
edulis has been thought worthy to grace our tables, for in
1390 we have the following recipes given in a “role” of
ancient English cookery, compiled by the master cooks
of King Richard II., called the ‘ Forme of Cury ’—

“‘ Muskels in brewet (broth), 122.—Take muskels (mus-
sels), pyke them, seeth hem with the own broth (in their
own liquor). Make a lyor (mixture) of crustes 7.¢. of
brede) and vinegar; do in onyons mynced, and cast the
muskels thereto, and seeth it, and do thereto powder, with
a lytel salt and safron. The samewise make of oysters.

“ Cawdel of Muskels, 124.—Take and seeth mus-
kels, pyke (pick) hem clene, and waishe hem clene in
wyne. Take almandes and bray hem. Take some of the
muskels and grynde hem, and some hewe small. Draw
(mix up) the muskels yground (that are ground) with
the self (same) broth. Wryng the almandes with faire
(clean) water. Do all this togider. Do thereto verjous
(verjuice) and vinegar. Take whyte of lekes, and par-
boil hem wel. Wryng out the water, and hew hem small.
Cast oile thereto, with onyons parboiled, and mynced
small. Do thereto powder, fort, safron, and salt; a lytel
seeth it, not to stondyng (too thick), and messe it forth.” +

“ Soyer’s Recipe for Cooking Mussels.—Take 3 dozen

* Vol. ii. pp. 84, 85.
+ ‘ Antiquitates Culinarie,’ by the Rev. Richard Warner, p. 23.

id

MYTILIDA. 65

mussels, wash them and place in a stewpan over the fire
for ten minutes, to open the shell (sometimes a small crab
will be found in them, which remove, as they are rather
unwholesome) ; replace them, with their liquor, and bot-
tom shell, in the pan ; add a spoonful of flour, mixed with
some butter or lard, and a spoonful of chopped parsley ;
stir it, and stew for five minutes, and serve. If re-
quired in large quantities, take the large boiler, put therein
Alb. of lard or butter, and 41b. of sliced onions ; fry for
five minutes. Have ready 2 pailfuls of mussels out of
the shell, and in their liquor, which put in the boiler
with 1 lb. of salt, 2 oz. of pepper, 2 oz. of sugar, 2 lb. of
chopped parsley, and 2 lb. of flour, mixed with water
to the thickness of good cream; boil ten or fifteen mi-
nutes, stir it gently with a wooden spatula, and serve.
If not required maigre, use instead of water the same
quantity of boiling stock mixed with flour; a flavour of
herbs may be given if liked, and bits of meat added to it.”

“ Mussel Sauce.—Cleanse, beard, wash, and blanch or
parboil two quarts of mussels, take all the white fat
mussels out of their shells, and place in a bain-marie,
reserving their liquor in a basin. Then knead 4 oz.
of butter with 2 oz. of flour, some nutmeg, pepper,
and salt, add the liquor from the mussels, a piece of
glaze, and half a pint of cream; stir the whole on the
stove fire till it boils, and keep it boiling for ten
minutes, then add a season of 4 yolks of eggs, and pass
through a tammy on the mussels; just before sending
the sauce to table, throw in a tablespoonful of chopped
and blanched parsley, and a little lemon-juice. This
sauce is well adapted for boiled whitings, turbot, cod,
haddock, and gurnet.’”’*

* Francateili’s ‘ Modern Cook.’

66 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

* To Dress Mussels.— After having well washed and
scraped their shells, drain them, and put them to dry
into a stewpan upon a good fire, letting them remain till
the heat opens them. Then take them out of the shells
one by one, being careful to pick off the beards where
you find any; and put them into a stewpan, with a bit
of butter, parsley, and scallions, shred small; shake them
over the fire, and put a little flour, moistening them with
broth ; when the sauce is consumed, put in the yolks of
3 eggs, beat up with cream, thicken it over the fire, and
add afterwards a dash of verjuice (or lemon).”’*

“* Mussel Soup.—Take the liquor that flows from the
mussels when open in the fire, and strain it through a
fine napkin ; put it into some good broth; add the yolks
of six eggs beat up with it, thicken it over the fire, and
put it into your soup, when ready to serve, arranging
the mussels round the dish.”’+

“ Mussel Fritters.—Take them out of their shells, and
steep them two hours in a quart of vinegar, some water,
and a little butter rolled in flour, with salt, pepper, pars-
ley, scallions, tarragon, garlic, a little carrot and parsnip,
thyme, laurel, and basil ; the whole make lukewarm, then
take out your mussels, dry, and dip them in a batter,
made with flour, white wine, and a spoonful of oil, and
salt, and fry them.” ft

The Neapolitans, as mentioned by Poli, eat mussels
raw and fried, besides making patties and sauces of
them.

* Francatelli’s Recipe for Scalloped Mussels.—Scald
and beard some dozens of mussels ; strain the liquor into
a stewpan, and add thereto 2 oz. of butter, mixed or

* ¢French Family Cook.’ t+ ‘French Family Cook.’
{ Idem.

MYTILIDA!.— MUSSEL. 67

kneaded with 2 oz. of flour, a little cream, anchovy,
nutmeg, and cayenne; stir the sauce over the fire to
boil and reduce for ten minutes, then add a couple of
yolks of eggs, a little lemon-juice, some chopped parsley,
and add the mussels. Stir all together over the fire
for a few minutes, and fill some scallop-shells with this
preparation ; cover them over with a thick coating of
fried breadcrumbs, place them on a baking-sheet in the
oven for five minutes, and serve them quite hot. They
may also be served upon neatly-shaped pieces of dry
toast.”’

“ Mussels dressed a la Provencale.-—Wash the mus-
sels well several times, changing the water so as to
cleanse them thoroughly ; put them to dry in a sauce-
pan over a hot fire, till the shells open. Take off one
valve of the shell only. Put into a saucepan, half a glass
of oil, parsley, chives, mushrooms, truffles, half a clove
of garlic, all chopped very fine. Put it on the fire.
Moisten it with a glass of white wine, a spoonful of broth,
and half the quantity of liquor from the mussels. Boil
this sauce, and when it is nearly reduced to half, add the
mussels, with a spoonful of gravy ; let the whole boil a
few minutes; then add a spoonful of lemon-juice, pepper,
and grated nutmeg,—then serve.’’*

“ Chilian Method of Cooking Shell-fish.—A hole is dug
in the ground, in which large smooth stones are laid,
and upon them a fire is kindled. When they are suffi-
ciently heated, the ashes are cleared away, and shellfish
are heaped upon the stones, and covered first with leaves
or straw, and then with earth. The fish thus baked are
exceedingly good and tender, and this mode of cooking
them is very superior to any other, as they retain, within

* Dictionnaire Général de la Cuisine Francaise ancienne et moderne.

EF 2

68 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

the shell, all their own juiciness.”* Meat dressed in the
same manner is most delicious.

Cullis of Mussels—Stew them and strain them; fry —
carrots, parsnips, parsley, basil, lemon, crumbs, a dozen
of almonds; moisten them with broth; strain and keep
the broth for use.

Mussels and Cockles must first be well washed in se-
veral waters, and then boiled in a closely covered sauce-
pan, without water. When the shells open, take out the
fish, strain the liquor, pick out the meat, carefully re-
moving a tough membrane from the tongue of each
mussel, and a substance resembling a small crab, which
would be highly pernicious. ‘To ascertain that nothing
injurious remains, dip a silver spoon into the hot liquor.
If it turns black, the next thing is throw the whole
away ; but, if otherwise, proceed to simmer the fish in
the liquor, with a little salt and nutmeg, and a good
piece of butter rolled in flour. Serve on toasted bread.

N.B.—This dish may be enriched by the addition of
strong gravy, chopped mushrooms, anchovy, lemon-juice,
and a larger proportion of butter, but it is generally pre-
ferred in its more simple form; indeed, many persons
prefer having the fish served in the shells, to pick them
out themselves, and eat with cold butter.t

Fam. OSTREAD.

OSTREA.—OYSTER.
OstREA EDULIS, Linneus. LHdible Oyster.—Shell
nearly round, though variously shaped, inequivalve ; the

* King’s ‘ Adventures of the Beagle,’ vol. i. p. 291.
+ ‘The Housekeeper’s Guide,’ by Esther Copley, pp. 194, 195.

OSTREAD &.—OYSTER,. 69

upper valve flat, or nearly so, with scales or laminz of a
yellowish-brown ; the lower valve convex, and foliaceous,
of a pale pinkish-white, with streaks of purplish-pink ;
transversely striated. Hinge toothless ; ligament inter-
nal, of an olivaceous-brown; beaks small. The interior
of the shell white and polished ; sometimes the purplish-
pink colour of the margins showing through.

The edible oyster of Great Britain is supposed to be
superior to those of other European countries, and to
attain to a greater degree of perfection on our coasts ; and
it was much valued by the Romans, who transplanted
numbers from our shores, and placed them in artificial
beds in the Lucrine Lake. Sergius Orata first invented
these oyster-beds, ‘‘ not for the gratification of gluttony,
but of avarice, as he contrived to make a large income
by this exercise of his ingenuity.”* Apicius first dis-
covered the art of preserving oysters fresh for a consi-
derable time, and sent some from Italy to the Emperor
Trajan, while he was on an expedition against the Par-
thians, which were found on their arrival to be as good
as on the day they were gathered. This mode may
possibly have been the same as that which is practised
in Italy at the present day, where, as Poli tells us, they
are carried from Tarentum to Naples in bags, tightly
packed with snow, which not only by its coolness pre-
serves them, but also by preventing them from opening
their bivalves, enables them to retain in the shells suffi-
cient moisture to preserve their lives for a long period.t

There were other places from whence oysters were
procured, and Mucianus speaks with rapture of those

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. chap. 79.
t+ Daniel’s ‘ Rural Sports,’ vol. iv. p. 194.
t Poli, ‘Testacea utriusque Sicilie.’

70 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

found at Cyzicus, a town in Asia Minor,* on the shores
of the Sea of Marmora, the ruins now called by the
Turks, Bal Kiz. He describes them as larger than
those of Lake Lucrinus; fresher than those of the
British coasts; sweeter than those of Medule (the dis-
trict in the vicinity of Bordeaux, now called Medoc) ;
more tasty than those of Ephesus; more plump than
those of Lucus; less slimy than those of Coryphas (a
town of Mysia, opposite Lesbos) ; more delicate than
those of Istria, and whiter than those of Circeii {a town
of Latium). Pliny mentions that according to the his-
torians of Alexander’s expedition, oysters were found in
the Indian Sea a foot in diameter,+ and Sir James E.
Tennent unexpectedly attested the correctness of this
statement, as at Kottiar, near Trincomalee, enormous
specimens of the edible oysters were brought to the rest-
house. One shell measured more than eleven inches in
length, by half as many broad.t

The Greeks preferred the oysters of Abydos, and
Archestratus, in his ‘ Gastronomy,’ says :—

* 7Enus has mussels fine ; Abydus too
Is famous for its oysters; Parium produces
Crabs, the bears of the sea, and Mitylene periwinkles ;
Ambracia in all kinds of fish abounds,
And the boar-fish sends forth ; and in its narrow strait
Messene cherishes the largest cockles.
In Ephesus you shall catch cheme, which are not bad,
And Chalcedon will give you oysters.’ §

Great Britain is still celebrated for its oysters, and
large artificial beds are formed for the better rearing and
breeding of these shellfish, besides the natural oyster-

* See Pliny, vol. vi. bk. xxxii. ch. 21 (6).

+ Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxxii. chap. 21 (6).

t See note, Nat. Hist. Ceylon, p. 371.

§ ‘The Deipnosophists,’ vol. i. bk. iii. p. 154.

OSTREADZ.—OYSTER. 71

beds, which are found on many parts of our coasts. The
artificial beds require much labour to keep them in
order, and free from shells and rubbish. The common
mussel is an enemy to the oyster, as it causes mud to
collect; and the starfish and whelk feed upon them, as
do crabs and other shell-fishes. Dr. Paul Fischer states
that the oyster-beds at Arcachon have suffered consider-
ably from the havoc caused by Murex erinaceus, which
has appeared in great numbers within the last ten years.
It is known by the name of cormaillot, or perceur, and
incessant war 1s waged against it; but the numbers do
not decrease. Again, cold weather has a most per-
nicious effect upon the spat, for if the water is not
warm enough the spat dies. Oysters will not even
spawn if the weather is too cold.* Some of our prin-
cipal beds are those of Whitstable, Rochester, Colches-
ter, Milton, Faversham, Queensborough, and Burnham.
Colchester has been celebrated for its oysters from a
remote period, and they were deemed an appropriate
present from the authorities of the town to ministers of
state, and other eminent persons. We hear of their
having been sent, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to
Leicester and Walsingham.t At the annual Colchester
Oyster Feast, held in the Townhall, October, 1862,
Mr. Miller, M.P., mentioned that Mr. Goody, clerk
to the Colne Fishery Company, with himself and a
few other gentlemen, had appealed to the Treasury,
because it was apprehended that Belgium, to which a
large number of oysters are sent, was about to impose
a duty which would inflict a serious injury upon the
town. However, it was found from the interview that

* ‘Times,’ Mr. Buckland’s Letter on Oysters, Aug. 3, 1864.
+ Cromwell’s Hist. of Colchester, vol. i.

72 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

there was no immediate prospect of the anticipated
danger, and a treaty was concluded with Belgium, in
which a special reservation had been made in respect
to oysters.* The oysters sent to Belgium are fattened in
the Ostend beds, and then called ‘“ Ostend oysters ;”
though, in reality, they are British. They are very
small and plump, and are highly thought of by the
oyster-eaters in Paris; their flavour is certainly quite
equal to the natives, at least I thought so, and the shells
appeared thinner. Oysters, mussels, and periwinkles, with
shrimps, are the fisheries which engage a good number of
fishermen at Leigh, near Southend. The Leigh shore
has been found particularly well adapted to grow and
fatten oysters.t

Whitstable was a fishing-town of note in the reign of
Henry VIII., and was called in ancient records “ North-
wood.” Leland, in his ‘ Itinerary, thus describes it :—
“Whitstable is upward junto Kent, a i miles or more
beyond Faversham, on the same shore, a great fisher-
towne of one paroche, belonging to Plaze College, in
Hssex, and yt standeth on the se-shore. Ther about
they dragge for oysters.”

The dredgers of Whitstable do not trust entirely to
the natural resources of their oyster-beds, but purchase
at Colchester or elsewhere, what is called the brood,
which is the spat in its second stage. The following
interesting account of the Whitstable beds appeared in
‘Macmillan’s Magazine, No. 36, October, 1862 :—
“The brood is carefully laid down in the oyster-beds
off Whitstabie, and allowed to grow for three, perhaps
four years. ‘The oysters in different stages are marked

* ¢Times,’ October, 1862.
t ‘Visits to the Seacoast ; the Shipwrecked Mariner,’ vol. xii. p. 30.

OSTREAD#.—OYSTER. 4

off by means of long poles, so that the shellfish farm
is divided into separate fields, each being in a parti-
cular stage of growth. At the time when the oysters
are lifted for the London or other markets, they are
measured by being thrown against a wire grating, and
all those under a certain size are thrown again into
the water. To give an idea of the business done in
the oyster trade, it may be stated that in 1860 the
Whitstable men took as much as £50,000, for native
oysters alone, which, after deducting the cost of the
brood, would still leave a handsome profit.” There are
extensive fisheries opposite Milton, those of the Cheyney
Rock. We are told that their farmer, Mr. Alston, has
sent in a single season to London, more than 50,000
bushels of “natives” from this one fishery.* Mr.
Buckland was informed upon the best authority, that out
of the open sea no less than £180,000 worth of human
food, in the form of oysters, is annually abstracted.+

The ‘ Milton natives” bear the bell, or may be said to
be the pearls among British oysters. King John granted
these fisheries to the Abbot of Faversham, in whose
hands they remained till the dissolution, and they have
been dredged from the earliest times by a company of
fishermen, ruled, like those of Faversham, by certain
ancient customs and bye-laws. {

Jersey oysters are brought over and bedded in South-
ampton Water, and the beds extend from thence to the
coast of Osborne, in the Isle of Wight. They are de-
scribed as being small, but of superior flavour, and are
conveyed long distances to be laid down, naturalized,
and afterwards sold as natives. They are also remark-

* Murray’s Handbook, Kent and Sussex, p. 64. + See ‘ Times.’
~ Murray’s Handbook, Kent and Sussex, p. 64.

7A: EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

able for their saline flavour when first brought over, but
it goes off after they have been bedded for some time at
Southampton.*

It is said, that formerly there were fine oyster-beds
between Portsmouth, Hayling, and the Isle of Wight, but
they have been ruined by excessive and indiscriminate
dredging.+ I hear that there is still a considerable
trade in oysters carried on at Hayling, and also at
Brading. A bed of oysters was discovered off Eastbourne
about three years since, the fish of a very superior and
delicate flavour. The price was 1s. per hundred, but it
has risen to 2s.,f and another large bed, which was valued
at £5000, was found about three miles off the mouth of
Dartmouth harbour, not very long ago.

The late Duke of Northumberland most successfully
introduced oyster cultivation on the Northumbrian coast.
They were imported and established there, and the year
before last the fisheries were allowed to commence, when
they were found to have succeeded admirably.

Messrs. Forbes and Hanley state that since the intro-
duction of steamboats and railroads, considerable quan-
tities of sea-oysters are brought from Falmouth and
Helford, in Cornwall, also from Scotland and Ireland;
the Irish oysters coming mostly from Carlingford, Ma-
lahide, Lissadell, Burran, Arklow, and Wexford. The
Carlingford oysters are well known, and they are dredged
by boats, each manned by from three to five men, who
take about fifty dozen per day. Each boat deposits its
oysters within a ring of small stones, till sold to dealers,
the place being marked by a buoy. A yearly fee of 5s.
is paid by each boat to the Marquis of Anglesey. The

* Tllustrated London News. + ‘Field,’ Note by Editor.
ft ‘ Field,’ February 27, 1864.

OSTREADE.—OYSTER. 75

fishermen can earn from 4d. to 1s. 6d. per diem, and are
mostly landholders. The Burran Bank oysters are highly
esteemed in Dublin, and are called ‘‘ Burton Bindons.”
They are brought from Kilkerran and Rossmuck Bays,
in Galway, and are laid down to fatten on the Red Bank
oyster-bed in Aughinish Bay. Formerly Mr. Burton
Bindon was the possessor of these beds, but now Mr.
Singleton has succeeded him, as we are informed by Mr.
Buckland, who has recently visited these and other
oyster-beds on the west coast of Ireland, the east coast
of England, and also those on the west coast of France.

The Carrickfergus oysters are large in size, and,
according to Mr. Patterson, so much in demand that
their price in the Belfast market is generally from 12s.
to 15s. per hundred of 120 oysters.

There are oyster-beds in the Shannon, said in 1836
to yield a revenue of £1400; and a small bed in Cork
harbour, of no great extent, but the oysters are large,
and prized for stewing, and sell at a good price. Formerly
in Lough Swilly there were oyster-beds, and the oysters
were sold at 2d. per hundred, but they have become very
scarce, from the beds not having been properly protected.

In the ‘ Morning Post,’ August 29, 1864, an account
is given of the investigations by the commissioners ap-
pointed by Parliament, on the condition of the deep-sea
fisheries of Ireland. At Wexford they elicited important
facts. Fine oyster-beds are found at Wexford, but scarcely
any oysters in them, which appears somewhat singular.
It is not lawful to sell oysters in Ireland in the months
of May, June, and July. The Wexford men dredge for
them, of course, in the other months, but the reason of
their beds being badly stocked is, that in the close months
they are regularly dredged by Beaumaris boats, which

76 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

replenish their own exhausted beds with them; and no
later than last year, a French lugger visited Wexford
seven times, carrying off on each occasion a large quan-
tity of oysters for ‘laying down” on the French coast.
Oysters are increasing in scarcity and dearness in Ire-
land ; and, indeed, in our English markets also. This
has led to much attention being given to oyster-culture,
and various opinions expressed as to the most approved
method of forming oyster-parks for the better rearing
and preserving of these delicious bivalves. The “ Fish
and Oyster Culture”? Company have established oyster-
parks on the French principle at Prittlewell, and have
laid down 1500 bushels of full-grown oysters, and it is
calculated that the crop which will be secured in one
year will be £1000 in value.

Between London and Glamorganshire there is a very
large trade in pickled oysters.

In Scotland, the Cockenzie fishermen derive a weal
portion of their annual income from the oyster trade, and
dredge for them at high and low tide. The crew of the
boats keep up a wild and monotonous song (in which
they believe there is much virtue) all the time they are
dredging, and assert that it charms the oysters into the
dredge.* The same authority further states, that as a
class, the fishers of the Scottish coast are very supersti-
tious. They do not like being numbered whilst standing
or walking. It offends them very much to ask them
whilst on their way to their boats, where they are going
to-day ; they consider it unlucky to see the impression
of a very flat foot upon the sand, and they will not go

* ¢The Fisher Folk of the Scottish East Coast,’ Macmillan’s Mag.,
No. 36, October, 1862.

OSTREAD EZ.—OYSTER,. 77

to work, if in the morning on leaving their honses a pig
should cross their path.

In the ‘ Sporting Gazette,’ December 24th, 1864, an
account is given of the discovery of a new oyster-bed in
Glenluce Bay, Mull of Galloway. The oysters are large,
and the fishermen think they are lying several feet deep.
An experimental steam-fishing vessel has been built at
Cockenzie; she is a dandy cutter-rigged craft, forty
tons burden, assisted with auxiliary screw steam power,
for the purpose of dredging oysters during the winter
months, and deep-sea trawling during summer.

The celebrated “‘ Pandore”’ oysters are principally ob-
tained from Prestonpans. They are socalled from being
found in the neighbourhood of the salt-pans, and are
large and well-flavoured. .

Among the “ Antient Cryes of London” we find the
following :—

“We daily cryes about the streets may hear,
According to the season of the year ;
Some Welfleet oysters call, others do cry
Fine Shelsea cockles, or white mussels buy.’’*

Oysters are also imported from the coast of Nor-
mandy and from Ostend; and Dr. Knapp tells us that
not less than 800,000 tubs, each tub containing two
English bushels, are procured annually from the Norman
coast for the English market and the Channel Islands.
Dieppe has large oyster-beds, and the celebrated Rocher
de Cancale oysters are well known. There are fisheries
at Granville, and the number of oysters taken in 1862
and 1863 was about 4,500,000; in 1861 and 1862 the
Granville boats took 13,396,677 oysters, which, bemg
sold at 18 francs the thousand, produced 241,140 franes.

* Kirby’s ‘ Wonderful Museum,’ vol. ii. p. 233.

78 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

The season of 1862-63, was not a profitable one; the
oysters were sold at 28 francs the thousand, and the
total profit of the season was 126,000 francs, the small-
est amount yet known at Granville.*

An interesting paragraph appeared in the ‘Times,’
November 13th, 1862, on the cultivation of oysters on
the western coast of France. It is as follows :—“ M.
Coste has just communicated a paper to the Academy of
Sciences on the progress of his artificial oyster-beds.
Several thousands of the inhabitants of the island of
Ré have been for the last four years engaged in cleans-
ing their muddy coast of the sediments which prevented
oysters from congregating there, and as the work ad-
vances, the seed, wafted from Nieulle and other oyster-
localities, settles in the new beds, and, added to that
transplanted, peoples the coast; so that 72,000,000
of oysters from one to four years old, and nearly all
marketable, is the lowest average registered per annum
registered by the local administration, representing, at
the rate of from 25 to 30 franes per thousand, which is
the current price in the locality, a sum of about two
millions of francs, the produce of an extremely limited
surface. That the waves or currents carry the seed of
oysters is a well-known fact, since the walls of sluices
newly erected are often covered with them. In the
island of Ré the existence of the oyster-beds, however,
no longer depends upon this contingency, they being
now in a state of permanent self-reproduction. Again,
in some localities it is sufficient to prepare the emerging
banks for collection, to see them soon covered with
seed; but in other places nothing would be obtained
without transplanting proper subjects. The concession

* <Tilustrated London News.’

OSTREADS. 79

of emerging banks is anxiously applied for by the inha-
bitants of the coast,—the more so, as improvements in
the working of this branch of trade are of daily occur-
rence. Thus, Dr. Kemmerer, of Ré, covers a number
of tiles with a coating of a kind of mastic, brittle
enough to enable him to detach the small oysters from
it. When this coating is well covered with seed, he
gets it off all in one piece, which he carries to the place
where the seed is to grow. The same tile he coats a
second time, and so on.”

In France, oysters having a green tint are considered
great delicacies, and the art of greening oysters is car-
ried to the greatest perfection on the coasts of Aunis,
whence come the celebrated green oysters of Marennes.
The oysters are, in reality, as white as the others, and
only receive their green colour and peculiar flavour
when transplanted to certain beds, covered with a small
submarine kind of moss, formed of the slime deposited
by the sea from the small gulf called the Riviere de
Seudre. The ‘Moniteur’ published a letter from the
Mayor of Marennes, in which he states that the trade in
green oysters had increased so much during the last fifteen
years, that the white oyster-beds in the neighbourhood
had become insufficient to stock those peculiar beds
where the creature acquires the green colour and that
delicious taste which causes the Marennes oyster to be so
eagerly sought after. In order to meet the demand,
white oysters had to be imported from Spain, Bretagne,
Ireland, and England. A considerable quantity of oys-
ters are imported from Falmouth, and these contain
copper, which imparts an acrid taste. They are gene-
rally, on their arrival, deposited in certain beds apart
from the others, and there kept for six months; after

80 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

which, experience has shown that they lose their copper,
salt, and bad taste. A Marennes fisherman, whose trade
was not very extensive, procured a few thousand oysters
from Falmouth, and, out of thirst for gain, he sent them
off to Rochefort before they had sojourned more than
three weeks in the beds set apart for their purification.*
These oysters caused alarming symptoms, and M. Cu-
zent, being called upon to test them, as they had been
seized in the market at Rochefort, found copper in them,
the quantity being about 23 centigrammes per dozen
oysters. I have elsewhere given an account of the find-
ing of copper in the Falmouth oysters; one of the tests
used by M. Cuzent was so very simple, that any one
might discover the presence of copper. It is as follows:
—An ordinary needle is thrust into the green part of
the oyster, and then the mollusk was immersed in pure
vinegar. When copper was present, thirty seconds suf-
ficed to cover the portion of the needle embedded in the
oyster with a red coating of copper.t

The amount of shellfish consumed in Paris annually,
including lobsters, crayfish, oysters, etc., is immense.
Oysters are not packed in barrels, as with us, but at the
restaurants and in the wine-shops are seen very shallow
baskets, in shape resembling a small shield, with a
thatching or wall of straw on either side, rising to the
height of a foot or a foot and a half, tied with string at
both ends and across the centre. These baskets contain
a hundred or more oysters, according to their size.

In London, oysters are considered in season from the
Ath of August to January, and the natives especially
from October to March. The following were the prices
at Billingsgate, August 4th, 1864:—Natives, 80s. per

* «Galignani’s Messenger.’ + ‘Field, March 14th, 1863.

OSTREADE.— OYSTER. $1

bushel ; old royals, pearls, and Cheyney rocks, 30s. ;
other kinds averaging from 12s. 6d. to 14s., according
to the quality. The shells of the native and rock oyster
vary much, though they are only varieties of the same
species, the shells of the latter being far more beauti-
fully sculptured and coloured, though coarser and more
rugged.

In the Bay of Cadiz, Ostrea Virginica is eaten when
very small, but the poor people eat it full-size, viz. ten
inches long. This species lives in the salt mud of the
Guadalete, and is called ostione ; other oysters are called
ostras. The river is said to be salt three leagues from
its mouth.

A Frenchman at Puerto St. Maria breeds oysters for
the Madrid market, but they are slimy, and not to be
compared with the English oysters, though they are said
to be good when cooked; and Major Byng Hall* states
that at Madrid, oysters—not fine ones—cost twopence
halfpenny (that is, I suppose, one real) each; but this
is not very remarkable, when in 1865 natives cost two-
pence, and Whitstable oysters three-halfpence each, in
London, the very land of oysters, so scarce had these
fish become.

The Tarentines declare that oysters are fattest during
the full moon, and they are also fully persuaded that the
mocnbeams have a pernicious effect upon sea-fish ;
therefore they cover over fish taken by moonlight, lest
they should decompose.

The American oyster, Ostrea Virginica, is much larger
than the English, and differs from it both in taste and
appearance. Four or six of them broiled are sufficient
for a meal. Mr. Nichols, in his ‘Forty Years in

* <The Queen’s Messenger,’ p. 341.
G

82 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

America,’ suggests acclimatizing it on our coasts ;* and”
this has been done on the French coast, at Arcachon,
and also at Saimi-Vaasit-la-Hogue. He tells us that
oysiers are never out of season at New York. They
are brought from the shores of Virginia, and planted
to grow and fatten, so that every quality and flavour
can be produced by the varying situations of the banks, —
and the iime of planting and the depth of water regu-
lates the season of the oyster, and keeps the market in
constant supply. It is not only in seaport towns in
America that oysters are eaten in enormous quantities,
but towns a thousand miles inland are well supplied;
and oyster suppers are as common in Cincinnati or St.
Lozis as in New York or Baltimore.t

The amount of capital sunk in the oyster trade in the
vicinity of New York exceeds 21,000,000.

Oysters are very beneficial to persons who suffer from
weak digestions, but then they must be eaten raw, and
without vinegar or pepper, aud I have known an invalid
able to eat oysters when quite unable to take any other
food; and oysters are also recommended for consumptive
patients, as they contain iodine.

The shells of the oyster and murex were used by the
Romans zs tooth powder, and oyster-shells are now used
for manure.

Juan Francisco de San Antonio, in his ‘ Chronicos de

* In 1865, Sir Gardner Wilkinson found on the Tenby coast many
fragments of the shelis of Ostrea Virginica, and was led to suppose that
this species of oyster (hitherio unknown or unnoticed in Britain) existed
there; and he succesded im obtaiming some living and periect speci-
mens, the greatest number being met with in the neighbourhood of the
small stream which runs into the sea on the south sands of Tenby.
(Bee * Lodlogist’ 1563, p. 9558.)

+ ‘Forty Wears in America? rol i p. 268.

OSTREAD Z.—OYSTER. 83

los Rel. Descaizos de S. Francisco,’ ete., 1738, mentions
the use of great oyster-shells for “holy water,’ and
speaks of one known to be ninety years old, by the
ayers of its shell. But I fancy he must mean the shell
of the Tridachna gigas, as we know it is used for that
purpose ; and in the church of St. Sulpice in Paris are
two of these shells resting upon rock-work in marble,
by Pigalle ; they were given to Francis I. by the Re-
public of Venice. In the ‘ Intellectual Observer,’ vol. i.
p. 483, 1s an account of an “ oyster-shell” island by M.
Aucapitaine, on the east coast of Corsica, composed of
layers of shells, bearmg some resemblance to the shell-
mounds of St. Michel-en-’ Herm, in La Vendée. This
island is formed of still-hving species, and is between
three hundred and four hundred yards in circumference,
the greatest elevation about thirty yards, and the mean
elevation rather more than two yards above the level
of the sea. The Romans are said by the fishermen to
have deposited the shells of the oysters there, which
they salted for exportation, but M. Aucapitaine does
not believe in the artificial origin of this island.

According to M. de Quatrefages, the shell-mounds of
St. Michel-en-) Herm are composed of oyster, mussel,
and scallop shells, of the same species as those living
now in the neighbouring seas. Many of them have
their valves still connected by the hgament which forms
the hinge, and they have not even changed eolour.
The three banks of St. Michel-en-PHerm are about
seven hundred and thirty yards in length, three hundred
in width, and rise about ten to fifteen yards above the
level of the surrounding marshes.

Mr. Buckland mentions a large heap of oyster-shells
in Galway Bay, at a place called Creggauns; another

« 2

84 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

south-west of Tyrone, and one at Ardfry Point. The
Creggaun heap consists principally of the shells of the
oyster, mussel, and common cockle, though the whelk,
Pecten varius, periwinkle, limpet, Nassa reticulata, He-
lix nemoralis, Trochus, and Venerupis decussata (Tapes
decussata ?), are also found in it. ‘There are also layers ~
of wood-ashes and stones, apparently used as hearth-
stones, showing the marks of having been subjected to
fire, but no weapons. ‘“ The heap occupies an irregular
space of two hundred feet long, and sixty feet wide, and
ranges from six to eight feet deep.” There are various
traditions as to the age of the heaps; and it is said,
that ninety years ago a series of high tides cast up the
heap of shells from adjoining beds.*

At the present day the Baltic appears to be almost
the only sea where the oyster will not grow,—a fact at-
tributable to the very great influx of fresh water from
the mouths of its many rivers, and the less powerful
current from the ocean, so that, in the words of Sir
Charles Lyell, “The Ostrea edulis cannot live at present
in the brackish waters of the Baltic, except near its en-
trance.’ Yet, from the examination of the Danish
Kjokkenméddings, it appears, “that the oyster flou-
rished in places from which it is now excluded, attaining
its full size.”

Oysters may be eaten in various ways, either cooked
or raw.

“ The pepper-box, the cruet,—wait
To give a relish to the taste ;

The mouth is watering for the bait
Within the pearly cloisters cased.

* The ‘ Field,’ February 4th, 1865.

OSTREADA.—OYSTER. 85

‘Take off the beard,—as quick as thought,
The pointed knife divides the flesh ;
What plates are laden! Loads are brought,
Are eaten raw, and cold, and fresh.” *

The oddest way of cooking an oyster, of which we
have any mention, is that recorded by Evelyn,+ who, in
the year 1672, saw Richardson, “‘ the famous fire-eater,”
perform wondrous feats, one of which was, “taking a
live coal on his tongue, he put on it a raw oyster; the
coal was blown on with bellows, till it flam’d and sparkl’d
in his mouth, and so remain’d till the oyster gaped, and
was quite boil’d.”’ Who ate the oyster thus cooked, we
are not informed.

“Oyster Soup.—Take 50 oysters; blanch them, but
do not let them boil; strain them through a sieve, and
save the liquor. Put 4 lb. of butter into a stewpan ;
when it is melted, add 6 oz. of flour; stir it over the
fire for a few minutes, add the liquor from the oysters,
2 quarts of veal stock, 1 quart of new milk ; season
with salt, peppercorns, a little cayenne pepper, a blade
of mace, Harvey’s sauce, and essence of anchovy, a table-
spoonful each; strain it through a tammy, let it boil
ten minutes; put the oysters into the tureen, with a
gill of cream, and pour the boiling soup upon them.”

Gower Recipe for Oyster Soup—Boil 4 sheep’s feet
in 2 quarts of water, till reduced to 1 quart; it will
then be a stiff jelly; put in it, while boiling, a small
blade of mace; take off the fat, and thicken it with
13 tablespoonful of ground rice; add from 20 to 50
oysters; boil it till thick enough, and add a teacupful
of cream.

* Hone’s ‘ Everyday Book,’ vol. ii. p. 1071.
+ ‘Memoirs,’ vol. i. p. 438. + Murray’s ‘ Modern Cookery.’

86 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Oyster Soup is also particularly good when made with
a fish stock; as, for instance, with equal quantities of
flounders, skate, and eels, or indeed with any fish that
is abundant, and not much in request for other pur-
poses.

“Oyster Soup.—Take 4 dozen oysters; lay the fish
apart, and pass the liquor through a sieve, into a stew-
pan; set it on the fire; beat up the yolks of 6 eggs,
and stir them in with half a pint of cream; add water
or milk to the required quantity ; season with pepper, a
little grated lemon-peel, and the flesh of an anchovy
beaten up, with a little butter and a small teaspoonful
of good arrowroot. Five minutes before serving, put in
the oysters.”’*

“« Potage a la Poissoniére.-—Blanch 2 dozen oysters,
4, dozen of very fresh mussels, blanch and beard; put
+ lb. of butter into a stewpan, with 6 oz. of flour,
make a white roux; when cool, add the liquor of the
oysters, mussels, and bones of a sole, with 2 quarts
of broth, and 3 pints of milk; season with a spoonful
of salt, one ditto of sugar, a sprig of thyme, parsley, 2
bay-leaves, 4 cloves, and 2 blades of mace; pass through
a tammy into a clean stewpan; boil and skim well ; cut
about 10 pieces of salmon into thin slices, half an inch
long, a quarter of an inch wide; cut the fillet of the
sole the same size; put all into the boiling soup, with
half a handful of picked parsley, and a gill of good
cream ; put the oysters and mussels in the tureen, and
serve.’’+

“ White Oyster Sauce (No. 43).—First scald and
beard the oysters, and save their liquor. Next knead

* Maitre Jacques.
t+ ‘The Gastronomic Regenerator,’ by Mons. A. Soyer.

OSTREAD#.—OYSTER, 87

2 oz. of butter, with 1 oz. of flour (or, better still, with
arrowroot), in a stewpan; add the liquor, a gill of
cream or milk, a little nutmeg, cayenne, anchovy, and
lemon-juice ; stir over the fire until the sauce boils, then
add the oysters and serve hot.’’*

“ Brown Oyster Sauce (No. 44).— Prepare the oysters
as in the foregoing recipe, boil down their liquor, add
half a pint of brown sauce (No. 12), or if there is none
ready, use melted butter instead, adding a little brown-
ing; season with a little anchovy, cayenne, and lemon-
juice ; add the oysters; boil together for a few minutes,
and serve hot.”+ Poli speaks of an oyster sauce made
with honey,—or sugar,—vinegar, and various spices, but
the mixture does not sound very inviting.

“ Oyster Sauce.—Set a pit of cream upon the hob.
beside a fire of clear glowing ashes, in an earthenware
pipkin, glazed inside. Take 2 oz. of butter, and inti-
mately mix with part of it a teaspoonful of best arrow-
root, flavour with the flesh of an anchovy, pounded, a
dash of cayenne-wine, a squeeze of lemon-juice, and a
scrap of the peel, and stir in the whole, letting it boil
until of the proper consistence; then put in the oysters,
(if of a large size they should be cut into halves or
quarters.) and keep stirring the sauce for about two
minutes.—N.B. In mixing the butter with the cream,
take care that the blending proceeds slowly, and keep
stirring gently with a wooden spoon.” t

“ Oyster Atlets.— Blanch throat-sweetbreads, and cut
them into slices ; then take rashers of bacon the size of
the slices of sweetbreads, and as many large oysters
blanched as there are pieces of sweetbread, and bacon.

* Francatelli’s ‘ Cook’s Guide.’ + Ib.
ft Maitre Jacques.

88 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Put the whole into a stewpan, with a piece of fresh
butter, parsley, thyme, and eschalots, chopped. very
fine ; pepper, salt, and lemon-juice, a small quantity of
each. Put them over a slow fire, and simmer them five
minutes. Then lay them on a dish, and when a little
cool, put them upon a small wooden or silver skewer ; a
slice of sweetbread, a slice of bacon, and an oyster, and
so on alternately till the skewers are full; then put
breadcrumbs over them, which should be rubbed through
a hair-sieve, and broil the atlets gently till done and of a
light-brown colour. Serve them up with a little cullis
under them, together with the liquor from the blanched
oysters reduced and added to it.””*

“ Curried Oyster Atlets—Take slices of sweetbreads,
or slices of mutton or veal of the same size, put them
into a stewpan with a piece of fresh butter, a table-
spoonful of currie-powder, the juice of half a lemon, and
a little salt. Set them over a slow fire, and when they
are half-done, add to them blanched and _ bearded
oysters, with their liquor free from sediment; simmer
together five minutes, lay them on a dish, and when
cold put them alternately on small wooden skewers.
Then dip them in the liquor, strew fine breadcrumbs on
each side, broil them over a clear fire till of a brown
colour, and serve them up with some currie sauce under
them.—N.B. The slices of sweetbread, oyster, veal,
or mutton, to be of an equal number.” +

“ Curried Oysters. — Let a hundred of large sea-
oysters be opened into a basin, without losing one drop
of their liquor. Put a lump of fresh butter into a good-
sized saucepan, and, when it boils, add a large onion, cut
it into thin slices, and let it fry in the uncovered stew-

* Old Cookery Book. t+ Old Cookery Book.

OSTREADA.—OYSTER, 89

pan until it is-of a rich brown; now add a bit more
butter, and two or three tablespoonfuls of currie-powder,
When these ingredients are well mixed over the fire
with a wooden spoon, add gradually either hot water, or
broth from the stockpot, cover the stewpan, and let the
whole boil up.

“Meanwhile, have ready the meat of a cocoa-nut, grated
or rasped fine, put this into the stewpan with a few sour
tamarinds (if they are to be obtained, if not, a sour
apple, chopped). Let the whole simmer over the fire
until the apple is dissolved, and the cocoa-nut very ten-
der; then add a strong thickening made of flour, and
water, and sufficient salt, as a currie will not bear being
salted at table. Let this boil up for five minutes. Have
ready also a vegetable marrow, or part of one, cut into
bits, and sufficiently boiled to require little or no further
cooking. Put this in with a tomata or two; either
of these vegetables may be omitted. Now put into
the stewpan the oysters, with their own liquor, and the
milk of the cocoa-nut, if it be perfectly sweet ; stir them
well with the former ingredients; boil the currie, stew
gently for a few minutes, then throw in the strained
juice of half a lemon. Stir the currie from time to
time with a wooden spoon, and, as soon as the oysters
are done enough, serve it up, with a corresponding
dish of rice.on the opposite side of the table. This
dish is considered at Madras the ‘ne plus ultra of In-
dian cookery.’ ”*

“ To Stew Oysters.—Take the oysters clean from their
liquor. Let the liquor stand till it is clear, then put a
little of it to the oysters, and stew them; then put to

* Miss Acton’s ‘Modern Cookery Book,’ taken from ‘Magazine of
Domestic Economy.’

90 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

them a little white wine, a little cream, and a little
lemon-juice, a bit of butter, and shake them up together ;
then serve.”’*

“ Dutch Oysters.—Roll rock oysters in yolk of egg ;
then dip them in grated breadcrumbs and white pepper,
one by one, and fry them in butter. Serve with melted
butter in a sauce tureen.”’ +

“To Fry Oysters.—Take the largest oysters, open
them, but do not mangle them, wash them in their own
liquor, and take away all bits of shells; strew a very lit-
tle flour over them. Dip them in the yolk of an egg,
and fry them brown in butter.”

“ Fried Oysters—Ostras Asada, Spanish recipe.—Take
the fish out of the shells, and simmer slowly for some
minutes in their own liquor. Add salt, pepper, parsley
chopped fine, a clove of garlic, some oil or butter, in
which fry them gently; stir in a spoonful of flour, and
moisten them with equal quantities of broth and wine.
When done, add the juice of a lemon.”

“ Fried Oysters ; another way.—Beat up two or three
eggs in a cup, and rasp breadcrumbs on a plate, with
sweet herbs powdered, and lemon peel. Dry the oysters
as much as possible, souse them in the egg, and cover
them with crumbs. Fry them in plenty of good butter,
and serve with lemon-juice, cayenne, and brown bread
and butter, cut thin.’

“A Ragott of Oysters.—Melt some butter, put in a
little flour; keep it stirring till brown; wet it with
gravy ; put in a crust with the oysters and liquor; toss
it ; season with pepper, parsley, and fish broth.”

* MS. Book.

+ ‘The English Cookery Book,’ edited by J. H. Walsh, F.R.C.S.
t{ Maitre Jacques.

OSTREAD #.—OYSTER. 91

« A Ragott of Oysters—Ostras Guisadas, Spanish re-
cipe.—Put the liquor of the oysters into a saucepan,
with strong broth, and warm it; salt to your taste ; then
add the oysters, and a chopped anchovy or two; let
them simmer, but not boil; serve with chicken, or white
meat.”’

“Grilled Oysters.—Open and detach the largest oys-
ters ; place upon each a small piece of butter, well mixed
with finely chopped parsley and spices; place them on
the gridiron, and when they begin to boil serve them
on a dish; or else, detach the oysters from their shells,
and let them simmer in their liquor; take them out,
and let them be placed again over the fire, with a piece
of batter, parsley, some pepper, and a little lemon-juice.
Put 4 oysters into each shell (after it has been well
cleansed), and place the shell on the gridiron again for
a few minutes, taking care not to let them boil up.’’*

“To Roast Oysters (206).—Place the oysters unopened
between the bars of a fire, or in a charcoal stove. They
require about six or eight minutes’ time.” Tt

“ Oysters—Ostras a la Pollada, Spanish recipe.—Take
oysters out of their shells, and blanch them in boiling
water; then throw them into cold water, and take them
out and let them drain. Put into a saucepan a piece of
butter mixed with flour, parsley chopped fine, and mush-
rooms; warm this over the fire, and add sufficient broth
to moisten it, and when it is thickened sufficiently, add
the oysters, seasoned with pepper and salt, and let the
whole boil. The moment before serving, add the juice
of a lemon, or a little vinegar.”

“ Oyster Sausages.— Mince a pint of oysters, scalded so
as to make them hard, and also a pound of lean sirloin

* La Cuisiniére de la Campagne. + The English Cookery Book.

92 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

of beef, and mix them; season with pepper, salt, and
mace ; mix up well with the yolks of 8 eggs; shape them
like sausages, and fry in butter.”’*

“ To make Oyster Sausages.—Take the flesh of the in-
side of a loin of mutton, and chop it as for force-meat,
and season it with spice; then put to it 50 oysters,
chopped very small, with a little French bread grated,
and the yolks of 4 eggs, with a little chopped onion,
a little beef-suet, and a little lemon-peel. Roll it into
what form you please, and, if you do not use it, cover it
up, and it will keep a long time.”

“ To Mince Cysters.—Take half a hundred of oysters,
and put them into warm water; when they are ready to
boil, shift them into cold water; then drain them, and
take that part only that is tender. If you mix the flesh
of carp with your oysters, it will increase your mince,
and give it a better flavour. Put a bit of butter,
shred parsley, scallions, and champignons, into a stew-
pan, and shake them over the fire, add a little flour, and
moisten them afterwards with a gill of white wine, and
as much soupe maigre ; then put in your mince, and let it
stew till the sauce be consumed; season it agreeably,
and when you are ready to serve it, put in the yolks of
three eggs, beat up with some cream.” +

“ Oyster Force-meat.—Open carefully a dozen of fine
plump natives, take off the beards, strain their liquor,
and rinse the oysters in it; grate 4 ounces of the crumb
of a stale loaf into light crumbs, mince the oysters, but
not too small, and mix them with the bread; add an
ounce and a half of good butter, broken into minute
bits, the grated rind of half a small lemon, a small salt-
spoonful of pounded mace, some cayenne, a little salt,

* Maitre Jacques. + The French Family Cook.

OSTREADA.—OYSTER. 93

and a large teaspoonful of parsley. Mingle these ingre-
dients well, and work them together with the unbeaten
yolk of an egg, and a little of the oyster liquor, the re-
mainder of which can be added to the sauce, which usually
accompanies this force-meat.’’*

“ Scalloped Oysters.—Scald and beard some dozens
of oysters}+ straim’ tle fiquor into a siewpan, and
add thereto: 26s! of butter,! mixed, or. kneaded with
2 oz. of flonr,:a little. cream, anchovy, nutmeg, and
cayenne; stirs the sauce over,the: tire to: boil, and reduce
for ten minutes; then add a couple of yolks of eggs, and
a little lemon-juice, aad scme cnopped parsley ; add the
oysters, cut each into halves; stir all together over the
fire for a few minutes, and fill some scallop-shells with
this preparation ; cover them over with a thick coating
of fried breadcrumbs ; place them on a baking-sheet in
the oven for five minutes, and serve hot.”+ If you have ~
no scallop-shells, the deep shell of the oyster, well
scoured, will serve the purpose.

Many people, however, who prefer the real taste of
the oyster, and do not like to conceal it beneath that of
spice, prefer the old-fashioned way of scalloping oysters,
which is as follows :—

© Old way of Scalloping Oysters.—Beard the oysters ;
scald the beards in the liquor from the fish, then strain
them off; lay alternate layers of breadcrumbs, oysters,
and small bits of butter in the shells, very slightly pep-
pering them as you proceed. Pour the liquor in which
you scalded the beards over them; put them into the
oven till nicely browned, and if you find the colour not
bright enough put them before the fire for a few minutes,
or salamander them. A little cream, added after the

* Miss Acton’s ‘Modern Cookery.’ + Francatelli’s ‘ Cook’s Guide.’

94. EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

shells are filled, but before they are put in the oven, is a
great improvement.”

By lining the dish, and covering the oysters with puff
paste, this is converted into an Oyster Pie, which makes
an excellent dish.

“ Scalloped Oysters—Ostras en Concha, Spanish recipe.
—Select:tne largesi. skeils, and sérub-,taem. very clean ;
put 4 or 6 oysters into each, with their liquor, aud cover
them with brgadcrurebs, seasoned, with pepoer and salt ;
then place che°shells.cn the. gridison till the fish is
cooked.” Marae

“* Oyster Fritters (2997) Make batter of flour, milk,
and eggs; season with a very little nutmeg. Beard the
oysters, and put as many as you think proper in each
frtter.’”*

“ Oyster Loaves.—Open the oysters, and save the
liquor ; wash them in it; then strain it through a sieve,
and put a little of it into a tosser, with a bit of butter
and flour, white pepper, ascrape of nutmeg, and a little
cream, stew them, cut in dice; put them into rolls sold
for the purpose.” t

““ Oyster Pie.—As you open the oysters separate them
from the liquor, which strain; parboil them, after taking
off the beards; parboil sweetbreads, and cutting them
in slices, lay them and the oysters in layers; season
very lightly with salt, pepper, and mace; then put half
a teacupful of liquor, and the same of veal gravy. Bake
in a slow oven; and before you serve put in a teacupful
of cream, a little more oyster liquor, all warmed, but not
boiled.” t

Oyster Pie.—Take a large dish, butter it, spread a

* © Enquire Within upon Everything.’ + The English Cookery Book.
~ Murray’s ‘Modern Domestic Cookery.’

\
OSTREADA.— OYSTER. 95

rich paste over the sides, and round the edge; but not
at the bottom ; the oysters should be fresh, and as large
and fine as possible ; drain off part of the liquor from the
oysters; put them into a pan, season them with pepper,
salt, and spice; stir them well with the seasoning ; have
ready the yolks of eggs, chopped fine, and grated bread ;
pour the oysters (with as much of their hquor as you
please) into the dish that has the paste in it; strew over
them the chopped egg and grated bread; roll out the
lid of the pie and put it on, crimping the edge hand-
somely. Bake the pie in a quick oven.

“ Pickled Oysters.— Put 2 dozen of large oysters into a
stewpan over a fire, with their liquor only, and boil
them five minutes ; then strain the liquer into another
stewpan, and add to it a bay-leaf, a little cayenne pepper,
salt, a gill and a half of vinegar, half a gill of ketchup,
a blade of mace, a few allspice, and a bit of lemon-
peel; boil it till three parts reduced, then beard and
wash the oysters, put them to the pickle, and boil them
together two minutes. When they are to be served
up, place the oysters in rows, and strain the liquor over
them ; garnish the dish with slices of lemon or _ bar-
berries.” *

Glamorganshire way of Pickling Oysters. — Beard
them nicely ; then slowly stew them in the liquor from
their shells, with a bay-leaf or two, and some whole

black pepper ; a very small quantity of vinegar is then
added, and they are placed in stone jars, corked, and co-
vered with pitch. They are then ready for the London
markets.

This oyster pickling may be seen going on in almost
every cottage. The oysters when raw sell at ls. a

* From an old Cookery Book.

96 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

hundred, and when pickled at about 1s. 9d., or even
at 2s.

Soyer’s Recipe for Pickling Oysters for the London
Markets.—“ Put the oysters, with their liquor, in an
earthen pan on the fire to simmer ; take off the scum as
it rises; add some whole pepper, sliced ginger (green
if possible), a few cloves, some chopped chilies, and a
little vinegar ; simmer not longer than five minutes, and
take them out; remove the beards, and put the oysters
in a barrel, and when the liquor is cold, strain and
add it.”

Pickled Oysters—Ostras en Escabechados, Spanish
recipe.—“ Make a pickle of the hquor of the oysters,
chopped onions, parsley, garlic (this, of course, may be
omitted if not liked), bay-leaves, marjoram, salt, pepper,
butter ito which flour has been rubbed, and a few
drops of vinegar; when well thickened by boiling, add
the oysters, and stir gently.”

“Oyster Powder.—Open the oysters carefully, so as not
to cut them, except in dividing the gristle which attaches
the shells; put them into a mortar, and when you have
got aS many as you can conveniently pound at once,
add about 2 drachms of salt to about a dozen oysters ;
pound them, and rub them through the back of a hair-
sieve, and put them into a mortar again, with as much
flour (but previously thoroughly dried) as will roll them
into a paste; roll this paste several times, lastly flour
it, and roll it out the thickness of a half-crown, and cut
it into pieces about one inch square; lay them in a
Dutch oven, where they will dry so gently as not to
get burned ; turn them every half-hour, and when they
begin to dry crumble them; they will take about four
hours to dry ; pound them, sift them, and put them

PECTINIDH.—SCALLOP, 97

into dry bottles; cork and seal them. Three dozen of
natives require 7} oz. of flour to make them into a
paste weighing 11 oz. and when dried 64 oz. To make
half a pint of sauce, put 1 oz. of butter into a stewpan,
with 35 drachms of oyster powder, and 6 tablespoonfuls
of milk; set it on a slow fire, stir it till it boils, and
season it with salt; as a sauce, it is excellent for fish,
fowls, or rump-steaks. Sprinkled on bread-and-butter
it makes a good sandwich.”’*

“ Oyster Ketchup.—Pound the fish, and add to each
pint of them, 1 pint of sherry wine, 1 oz. of salt,
powdered mace 2 drachms, pepper 1 drachm. Boil up,
skim, strain; add to each pint, brandy 2 teaspoonfuls,
then bottle. To flavour sauces when oysters are out of
season.’ +

“ Oysters au Gratin.—Set a little cream in a pipkin,
with a piece of butter (the quantities to be judged ac-
cording to the size of the dish), and mingle them gra-
dually ; add to this a little anchovy sauce, cayenne,
wine, and grated lemon-peel. Pour half of this in a
dish, lay in the oysters, and grate over them a little
Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs (not too thick a
layer), seasoned in the usual way; then pour over the
rest of the cream and butter, and grate another thin
layer of Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Set it in a quick |
oven, or in a Dutch oven.’’t

* * Enquire Within upon Everything.’
+ ‘Dictionary of Practical Receipts,’ by G. W. Francis, F.L.S..
t Maitre Jacques.

98 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Fam. PECTINID.
PECTEN.—SCALLOP.

PrecreN opEeRcuLaris, Linneus. Lid Scallop. —
Shell spherical; valves convex, of nearly equal dimen-
sions, rather strong; ribs 18 or 20 in number, finely
striated, both longitudinally and transversely ; auricles
nearly the same size ; ligament internal; hinge without
teeth.

This is the common scallop of the people, and much
smaller than the “ great scallop,” also subject to greater
variety of colour. Specimens are found quite white, with
a dark red line on the summit of each of the radiated
ribs, (var. lineatus,) also brown, yellow, speckled white.
and brown, purplish-pink, and orange. The specimen
figured was dredged up off the Parson and Clerk rocks,
at Dawlish, and at times there may be gathered baskets
full on the beach between that town and the mouth of
the Exe. The shells are much used in ornamental work ;
and pretty baskets, pincushions, needle-books, etc., are
made from the beautiful variegated valves.

The scallop may be called the butterfly of the ocean,
from its power of swimming or flying rapidly through
the water. This was observed by Pliny, who says that
the scallop is able to dart above the surface of the
water, just like an arrow.* By some this power 1s
supposed to be caused by the rapid opening and shutting
of the valves; but Mr. Gosse states that after carefully
watching the habits of a Pecten, which he kept for
some days in a glass phial of sea-water, he discovered
that the flitting motion was performed by forcing jets of

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii, bk. ix. ch. 45 (29).

PECTINIDZ.—SCALLOP. 99

water through the compressed edges of the mantle. He
says, ‘““ When the Pecten is about to leap, it draws in as
much water as it can contain within the mantle, while
the lips are held firmly in contact. At this instant the
united edges of the lips are shghtly drawn inward, and
this action gives sure warning of the coming leap. The
moment after this is observed, the animal, doubtless by
muscular contraction, exerts a strong force upon the
contained water, while it relaxes the forced contact of
the lips at any point of the circumference, aecording to
its pleasure. The result is, the forcible ejection of a jet
of water from that point, which, by the resilience of its
impact upon the surrounding fluid, throws the animal
in the opposite direction, with a force proportioned to
that of the jet @eau.”’ Again, Mr. Gosse adds, “That
the Pecten widely opens and forcibly closes its valves if
left uncovered by the water, is, doubtless, correct. I
have seen my specimen perform such an action, and per-
haps it might by such means jerk itself from place to
place, with considerable agility. But I do not think so
rude a mode of progression cou!d enable it to select the
direction of its leaps, which under water appears to me
to be determined with so much precision.’”’*

Scallops are found pretty generally distributed in all
seas, and are much sought after for food. At Wey-
mouth, the average produce of the trawlers is five bushels
of scallops per week. They have been sold at 2d. per hun-
dred, 700 going to the bushel ;+ but they appear to have
become scarcer lately, if one may judge by the price at
which they are now sold, viz. 4d. a dozen, and 2d. per
dozen for the shells without the fish, for making into shell

* ‘Devonshire Coast,’ by P. H. Gosse, pp. 50 and 52.
+ ‘A Year at the Shore,’ by P. H. Gosse, p. 25.
H 2

100 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

ornaments, and the fishermen suppose that they are
taken in the greatest numbers after a fall of snow. In
Cornwall they are caled frills, or queens ; on the Dorset
coast sguinns, and in the north of France, vanneau or
olivette ;* and in the south of Ireland, the peasantry call
them closheens. Pecten varius is sent in quantities from
the department of Charente Inférieure to the market at
Bordeaux, and is called la petite palourde,t} and in the
north of France, petite vanne; and according to Poli it
is the pellerinella of the Neapolitans, and the canestrellt
di mare of the Venetians.

“To Fry Scallops.—Wash the shells well in clean
water, then put them into a saucepan over a slow fire
until they are open; then take out the fish and place
them on a dish, covering them well with breadcrumbs
or flour, and add a little pepper. Then put some oil,
lard, or butter into a frying-pan, and when it begins to
boil, put in the scallops and fry them till they are well
browned. Shake the frying-pan occasionally, to prevent
their mixing together.”

Soyer, in his ‘ Ménagére,’ gives the following recipe:
—<“ Escallop is exceedingly fine ; it should be kept im salt
and water some time, to free it from sand. When opened,
remove all the beard, and use only the white, red, and
black parts. It may be cooked like oysters, and is ex-
cellent with matelote sauce.”

In Francatelli’s ‘ Cook’s Guide’ is a recipe for oyster
soup, bnt he adds that a good soup may be made in the
same manner, substituting scallops instead of oysters,
and I shall therefore give 1t :—

“ Oyster Soup (Scallop Soup, No. 183).—Scald, drain,

* Jeffreys, ‘ British Conchology,’ p. 60, vol. ii.

+ ‘Faune Conchyliologique Marine,’ etc., par le Dr. Paul Fischer.

PECTINIDH.—SCALLOP. 101

wash, and beard 4 dozen of oysters (or scallops), re-
serving their liquor ina pan. Put 4 oz. of butter into
a stewpan, to barely dissolve over the fire; mix in 4 oz.
of four; moisten with a pint and a half of good white
stock or milk; season with nutmeg, and a pinch of
cayenne, and a teaspoonful of anchovy ; add half a pint
of cream ; stir over the fire for a quarter of an hour’s
gentle boiling, and then, having cut the oysters (or scal-
lops) each into halves, pour the hot soup over them in
the tureen.”

“To Cook Scallops, or ‘ Leitrigens, Donegal fashion.
—Place them on a gridiron in the shells, with a piece of
lighted turf-coal placed on the upper shell ; when cooked,
eat them with butter and pepper.”

Gwillim, in his ‘ Heraldry,’ says that (according to
Dioscorides) the escallop is “ingendred of the dew and
the air, and hath no blood at all in itself; notwithstand-
ing, in man’s body, (of any other food) it turneth soonest
into blood,” and adds, “ the eating of this fish raw is said
to cure surfeit.”

Precren maximus, Linneus. Great Scallop.—Shell
suborbicular ; valves very dissimilar, the upper one con-
cave at the umbones ; the under valve very convex ;
strong ribs, 15 or 16 in number; rather broad, and dis-
tinctly striated; auricles large, nearly equal ; hinge
without teeth; ligament internal, placed in a triangular
recess.

The great edible scallop, though generally distributed
in our seas, is only locally abundant. At Eastbourne
aud Brighton numbers are brought in by the fishing
boats, and in the spring, during the prevalence of the
easterly gales, live specimens may be found on the beach
at Dawlish. The London markets are supplied trom

102 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

various parts of our coast, but I am told that tons of
scallops and periwinkles are sent yearly from Brading
harbour, in the Isle of Wight; but the greatest supply is
from Holland. They are sold at 2s. per dozen, and are
chiefly sought after for the shell. There are large scallop
beds off the Isle of Man. At Vigo, Pecten maximus
is the constant food of all classes from Christmas to
Easter, after which it is only eaten by the very poor
people, and there it is known by the name of Beira. In
Andalusia it is called Rufina.

The French call the scallops peignes, coquilles de St.
Jacques ; also, grosille, grand’-pélerine, gofiche, or pa-
lourde,* and the name for them in German is Jacobs-
muschel, Pilgrims-muschel, and Kamm-muschel. At
Tarento, the fishermen call this shell Concha di San
Pialogo, and in other places, Cappa di San Giacomo,
and consider it a great delicacy ; and formerly it grew
so large there, that Horace says :—“ Pectinibus patulis
jactat se molle Tarentum.”’+ According to Poli, the
Neapolitans call it Cozza di San Giacomo, and the Ve-
netians Cuppa Santa. In Youghal these mollusks are
known by the name of kirkeens, or kirkeen thraws ; an-
other Irish name for them is Sligane-mury. In Scotland,
scallops are often called clams, and are used as bait for
the white-fish lines, but other shells are called clams ;
amongst them is Pholus dactylus, which is generally
used by us as bait, though eaten in France ;} and in the
Shetland Isles the large Cyprina Islandica is the clam.
A species of Mya, eaten by the natives of the Zaire or
Congo River, is stated by Mr. Fitzmaurice to resemble
what is usually called the clam in England; and at

* Jeffreys, ‘British Conchology,’ vol. ii. p. 74.
+ Aufrére’s Travels. t ‘Book for the Seaside,’ p. 84.

PECTINIDZ.—SCALLOP. 103

Dawlish, the Solen is called the sand clam. Lutraria
maxima is called the great clam, or otter shell, and Mr.
J. K. Lord states that in British Columbia and Vancou-
ver’s Island it is one of the staple articles of winter food,
on which the Indian tribes, who inhabit the North-West
Coast of America, in a great measure depend. The
squaws fish for them, as it is derogatory to the dignity
of a man to dig clams. They use a bent stick for the
purpose, about four feet long, and they cook them by
placing the shells on red-hot pebbles from the camp
fire, till the shells open. To preserve them for winter
use, a long wooden needle with an eye at the end,
is threaded with cord made from native hemp, and on
this the clams are strung hke dried apples, and tho-
roughly smoked in the interior of the lodge.* The wam-
pum, or Indian money, is made of the clam (Venus mer-
cenaria), and the shells are strung together and form a
belt. The wampum is the token of peace and friendship
amongst the American Indians.

Professor Simmonds, in his ‘ Curiosities of Food,’ gives
an account of the collection of clams on the North
American coasts for the Boston markets. There are
two kinds, which are eaten in great numbers in spring,
when they are in the best condition. They are also
salted and preserved in barrels, and the fishermen use
them as bait for codfish. It has been suggested by
Mr. Nichols to acclimatize the American clam on our
British and Irish coasts, as it would prove a valuable
addition to our edible mollusks,t and the experiment
has already been tried on the French coast by M. de
Broca, M. Coste, and Count de Férussac. Breeding-beds

* «The Naturalist in British Columbia,’ by John Keast Lord, vol. i.
+ ‘Forty Years in America,’ Nichols.

~

104 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

were prepared on the coast at Arcachon and Saint-
Vaast-la- Hogue, and in 1861, the steward of the ‘ Arago’
steamer brought over about two hundred clams, and also
some American oysters, which were deposited in these
beds under the superintendence of M. Coste.* In
1868, another supply of live clams was brought over ;
but Dr. Paul Fischer stated in 18€5, that though the
mollusks were perfectly healthy, they did not seem to
have spawned, as no young specimens could be found.
This Venus mercenaria is a very thick shell; covered
with a dark-brown epidermis, much resembling our Cy-
prina Islandica, but it is more triangular in form.

The deep valves of Pecten maximus are used by
fishermen as lamps for their huts, and, according to
Fuller, they were also made use of by the pilgrims in
Palestine, as cups and dishes, but I believe that the real
pilgrim scallop is Pecten Jacobeus, which is found in the
Mediterranean, and is smaller, of a very bright colour,
dark-orange and reddish-brown, more convex, the ribs
more defined and angular. The scallop was also the
badge of the pilgrim, and the poet Bowles says :—

* He clad him in his pilgrim weeds,
With trusty staff in hand

And scallop shell, and took his way,
A wanderer through the land.”

Again, in ‘ Marmion,’ we read :—

“The summoned Palmer came in place,
His sable cowl o’erhung his face ;
In his black mantle was he clad,
With Peter’s keys in cloth of red
On his broad shoulders wrought ;
The ‘ scallop shell’ his cap did deck ;

* © Utilization of Minute Life,’ by Dr. T. L. Phipson, pp. 176, 177.

PECTINID#H.—SCALLOP. 105

The crucifix around his neck

Was from Loretto brought ;
His sandals were with travel tore,
Staff, budget, bottle, scrip he wore :
The faded palm-branch in his hand,
Showed pilgrim from the Holy Land.”

At the present day, many distinguished families bear
scallop shells on their shields, showing that their an-
cestors had made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, or
other distant shrines; and Fuller says :—

“For the scallop shows a coat of arms,
That, of the bearer’s line,

Some one in former days hath been
To Santiago’s shrine.”

The scallop shell may be seen in the arms of the Duke
of Bedford, the Earl of Jersey* (whose ancestor, Sir
Richard de Villars, “ assumed the coat of arms, argent,
on a cross gules five escallops or, in the reign of Ed-
ward I., as a badge for his services in the Crusades), the
Marquis Townshend, Lord Dacres, and many others.
An escallop argent, between two palm-branches vert, is
the crest of Bullingham, of Lincolnshire; and that of
Bower, of Cloughton and Bridlington, Yorkshire, is an
escallop argent.

The arms of Buckenham Priory, Norfolk, founded
about 114€, by William de Albini, Earl of Arundel, and
Queen Adeliza, his wife, widow of King Henry I., were
argent, three escallops sable ; and the seal of the Priory
bears the figure of St. James as a pilgrim, with the
scallop shell in his hat, a pilgrim’s staff in one hand, and
a scrip in the other.+ Asother old abbey seal, of which
I have seen the impression, has the figure of St. James

* ‘The Noble and Gentle Men of England,’ by E. P. Shirley, Esq.
+ Moule’s ‘ Heraldry of Fish,’ p. 223.

106 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

(or Saint Jacques de la Hovre) in his pilgrim’s dress, his
staff in one hand and a scrip in the other, with a scallop
shell on either side of the figure. The inscription,
unfortunately, I could not read, as it was indistinct.
On many monumental slabs and tombs the scallop shell
appears; and in Melbourne Church, Derbyshire, in a
canopied recess in the chancel, is a recumbent figure
of a knight, or crusader, with mail and surcoat, with a
shield on his arm bearing three scallop shells, with
chevron between. The monument is much mutilated,
and it is not known to whom it belongs. Again, in
St. Clement’s Church, Sandwich, is a slab with the
date 1583, to the memory of “ George Raw, gent., some-
tyme mayor and customer of Sandwic, and marchant
adventurer in London ;” with a shield bearing the arms,
ermine on a chief (gules) two escallop shells (or); crest,
a dexter arm embowered in armour (sable), garnished
(or), holding a scallop shell. However, the escallop in
heraldry is borne not only as a badge of pilgrimages,
but by those who have made long voyages, have gained
great victories, or have had important naval commands.*

It is curious to remark, that leaden coffins ornamented
with scallop shells, rings, and beaded pattern, belonging
to a much earlier period, have been dug up from time to
time on the sites of Roman cemeteries. Mr. C. Roach
Smith, in an interesting paper on ‘ Leaden Coffins,’ in
‘Journal of the Archzological Association,’ vol. ii.,
mentions several. Two were found at Colchester, and
near one of them was an urn, in which were two coins,
one of Antoninus Pius, and the other of Alexander
Severus; again, in Weever’s ‘ Funeral Monuments,’

* See ‘Crests of Great Britain and Ireland,’ vol. i. p. 525, by Fair-
bairn.

PECTINID#.—SCALLOP. 107

mention is made of a similar coffin (discovered in the
parish of Stepney, Middlesex, in the district known to
occupy the site of one of the cemeteries of Roman Lon-
don), the upper part ornamented with scallop shells ;
having at the head and foot two jars; on the sides a
number of bottles of glistening red earth, some of
which were painted, and also some glass phials. The
chest, or coffin, contained the body of a woman. Leaden
coffins have been found at York, and in a Roman tomb
at Southfleet, Kent, and other places, as well as in
France; and Mr. C. Roach Smith says, “that they
may, most of them, possibly be assigned to the Roman-
British period.”

The scallop shell appears legitimately to have be-
longed to pilgrims to the shrine of St. James of Com-
postella, as may be gleaned from the following legend,
given by old Spanish writers :—

‘‘ When the body of the saint was being miraculously
conveyed in a ship without sails, or oars, from Joppa
to Galicia, it passed the village of Bonzas, on the coast
of Portugal, on the day that a marriage had been cele-
brated there. The bridegroom with his friends were
amusing themselves on horseback on the sands, when
his horse became unmanageable, and plunged into the
sea; whereupon the miraculous ship stopped in its voyage,
and presently the bridegroom emerged, horse and man,
close beside it. A conversation ensued between the
knight and the saint’s disciples on board, in which
they apprised him, that it was the saint who saved him
from a watery grave, and explained the Christian religion
to him. He believed, and was baptized there and then,
and immediately the ship resumed its voyage, and the
knight came galloping back over the sea to rejoin his

108 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

astonished friends. He told them all that had happened,
and they, too, were converted, and the knight baptized
his bride with his own hand. Now, when the knight
emerged from the sea, both his dress and the trappings
of his horse were covered with scallop shells ; and, there-
fore, the Galicians took the scallop shell as the sign of
St. James.”*

Florezt says that a Galician peasant discovered, in
the ninth century, the spot in which was deposited a
marble sepulchre, containing the ashes of St. James,
owing to the appearing of certain preternatural lights in
a forest. The shells of Galicia, or scallops, belonged
exclusively to the Compostella pilgrim, and the Popes
Alexander III., Gregory IX., and Clement V., in their
Bulls, granted a faculty to the archbishops of Compo-
stella, to excommunicate all who sold these shells to
pilgrims anywhere except in the city of Compostella.t

When the marriage of Edward I., King of England,
took place with Leonora, sister of Alonzo of Castile, a
protection to English pilgrims was stipulated for, but
they came in such numbers that they alarmed the
French, who threw difficuities in their way. In the fif-
teenth century, Rymer mentions that 916 licences were
granted to make the pilgrimage to Santiago in 1428;
in 1434 as many as 2460 were granted. The name
of Jacobite, or Jacobipete, was given to Compostella

* ** Pilgrims of the Middle Ages,’ Rev. E. L. Cutts, M.A., ‘ Art
Journal,’ 1861, p. 309.

+ ‘Historia Compostellana,’ lib. i. cap. ii. apud ‘ Espafia Sagrada,’
tome xx.

ft “On Pilgrims’ Signs and Tokens,” C. Roach Smith. See note, Ar-
cheological Journ., vol.i. p. 202.

§ See note, “ Pilgrims of the Middle Ages,” vol. vii. p. 308, Rev. E.
L. Cutts.

PECTINID.—SCALLOP. 109

pilgrims, and there was an hotel at Paris on purpose
for receiving them if they were bound to St. James’s
shrine; but the revenues failing, it was purchased by
the Dominicans.* “ Besides its badge, each pilgrimage
had also its gathering cry, which the pilgrims shouted
out, as at grey of morn they slowly crept through the
town or hamlet where they had passed the night,”+ and
Pope Calixtusf{ says that the Santiago pilgrims were ac-
customed, before dawn, at the top of each town, to cry
with a loud voice, ‘ Deus adjuva ! Sancte Jacobe;!’’§

It is stated that pilgrims used to present their scrips
and bourdons to their parish churches, and Coryatt saw
cockle, mussel-shells, beads, and other religious relies,
hung up over the door of a little chapel in a nunnery.
These were deposits and offerings made by pilgrims to
Compostella, when they returned and gave thanks. ||

The Rev. E. L. Cutts states that shells have not —
unfrequently been found in stone coffins, and are sup-
posed to be relics of the pilgrimage once taken by the
deceased to Compostella ; and that when the grave of
Bishop Mayhew, who died in 1516, was opened some
years ago, in Hereford Cathedral, a common rough
hazel-wand, between four and five feet long and as thick
as a man’s finger, was found lying by his side, and with
it a few mussel and oyster shells.

St. James of Compostella is said to have performed
many miracles, and to have appeared no less than fif-
teen several times to the Spanish kings and princes,

* Fosbroke’s Brit. Monachism, p. 469.

+ “ Pilgrims of the Middle Ages,” p. 321, ‘ Art Journal.’

t See note, “Pilgrims of the Middle Ages.” Sermones, Bib. Pat.,
ed. Bignio, xv. 330.

§ Dr. Rock’s ‘Church of the Fathers,’ vol. ili. p. 442.

|| Brit. Monachism,

110 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

when some great advantage always ensued ; for instance,
one day he put himself at the head of the troops of
a King of Spain, Ramira, King of Leon, and leading
them against the Moors, mounted on a white horse,
the housings charged with escallops,* defeated those
infidels. St. James supported his people, by taking part
in their battles, down to a very late period, as Caro de
Torres meutions two engagements in which he cheered
on the squadrons of Cortes and Pizarro “ with his sword
flashing hghtning in the eyes of the Indians.”+ The
great Spanish military order of Santiago de la Espada
is supposed to have been instituted in memory of the
celebrated battle of Clavijo; the peculiar badge of which
order is a red cross, like a sword, charged with a white
scallop shell, and the motto, ‘‘ Rubet ensis sanguine
Arabum.”{ ‘To this day you are told in Spain, that the
scallops found at Clavijo were dropped there by St.
James, or Santiago, when he assisted the Spaniards to
kill 60,000 Moors, in the year 997, and they are consi-
dered visible proofs for those who doubt the miracles of
this saint.

Other orders of knighthood used the scallop shell as
an ornament, viz., that of St. James of Holland, the
badge and collar being formed of escallops; and Louis
IX. of France, or St. Louis, as he was generally called,
instituted an order of knighthood, called the “ Ship
and Escallop Shell,’ to induce the French nobility to
accompany him in his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.§
He quitted Paris the 12th of June, 1248, to embark at

* © Heraldry of Fish,’ p. 222.

+ ‘ Ordenes Militares,’ fol. 5. Note, Prescott’s ‘Ferdinand and Isa-
bella,’ vol. i. p. 274.

t Heraldry of Fish. § Ibid.

PECTINIDE.—SCALLOP. rR

Aigues-Mortes, in Languedoc; a town which he had
founded, that he might have a seaport on the Mediter-
ranean. He also embarked at that place on his unsuc-
cessful crusade in 1270, having assembled a fleet of 800
galleys, and an army of 40,000 men.

The following description of the apostle St. James,
patron of Spain, given by Bernard Picart,* may not
be uninteresting to some of my readers. He says, “Si.
James, Patron of all Spain, has rested for these 900
years past in the Metropolitan Church of Compostella.
The image of this blessed apostle is upon the high altar ;
it is a small wooden bust, with forty or fifty white tapers
constantly burning before it. Pilgrims kiss it three
times, and put their hats upon the head of it, with abun-
dance of respect and devotion. There are thirty silver
lamps always burning in the church, and six large silver
candlesticks five feet high, which were given by Philip
Ill. There are five platforms, of large freestones, for
walking all round the church, and above it is another
of the same kind, where the pilgrims ascend and fix
some remnant of their clothes to a stone cross, which
is erected thereon. They likewise perform another cere-
mouy as singular as this. They pass under this cross
three times, through such a small hole that they are
obliged to slide through with their breasts against the
pavement, so that such as are never so little too fat
must suffer severely, and yet through they must go, if
they will obtain the indulgence thereto affixed. This is
the strait gate of the Gospel through which the pil-
grims enter into the high-road to salvation. Some who
had forgotten to pass under the stone cross, have gone
back five hundred leagues to perform this ceremony.”

* ‘Religious Ceremonies,’ p. 432.

LAs EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS,

Mr. Street, in his ‘Gothic Architecture in Spain,’ states
that, even in that country, the old belief of the power of
the bones of St. James of Compostella to work miracles
appears now practically to have died out, and that there
are no longer great pilgrimages to his shrine. However,
at Santiago de Compostella he saw one professional pil-
grim with his rags covered with scallop shells, whom he
had previously seen begging at Zaragoza ; and in one of
the Plazas at Santiago, an old woman was selling scallop
shells.

The custom of bearing scallop shells as a badge of
pilgrimage, is more widely spread than is usually sup-
posed, for Sir Rutherford Alcock mentions their use on
the sleeves of many of the Japanese pilgrims to the
Cone of Fusiyama, in the island of Japan.

Shells were used by the Romans to ornament their
dwellings, and the ‘ Fountain of Shells,’ described in Sir
W. Gell’s ‘ Pompeiana,’ was decorated with the ‘lyrian
Murex and the scallop.*

The scallop is figured on the coins of Saguntum, which
are of Phoenician time, the dolphin being on one side,
with the letters s. A. Gc. w. under, and the scallop on
the reverse; and Florez, in his ‘ Medallas de Espana,’
Parte 2, 1728, says of these coms: “ These (the dolphin
and the scallop shell) allude to Neptune and Venus, for
as the dolphin is sacred to Neptune, so is the shell to
Venus,t as the daughter of the sea, and also for the
pearls it engenders, applied to the adornment of women.
This shell is most appropriate for the impress of a mari-
time city, from the utility enclosed within it, and its ap-
plication to diverse uses, either from its seed for jewels,

* Jeffreys, Brit. Conchology, vol. i. p. 67; Introduction.
+ “ Faveas concha Cypria vecta tua,” Tibullus, lib. ii. El. 3, ete. ete,

Se eeEEEE——EEE>EE—E—E———=s

HALIOTIDH.—EAR-SHELL, OR SEA-EAR. 113

or as a delicacy for the table, for the precious tints with

which it is coloured, for its use as a medicine, and for
ostentation in virtue of its ornamental pearls.”

Real scallop shells are also used in the baptismal ser-
vice for pouring water over a child, though the shell is
generally of silver gilt, and in private baptism a wooden
shellis frequently adopted. ‘ Baptismal shells” are men-
tioned in a list of the ornaments of the Church in the fif-
teenth century, and they are still used in some churches.

~The following are a few recipes for cooking the
scallop :—

‘To dress Scallops.— Wash them six or seven times
in clean water, then set them on the fire to stew in
their own liquor; take the fish and beard them very clean,
let the liquor settle, and strain it off, and take warm
milk, and wash the fish very well; then take the liquor,
some good gravy, and crumbs of bread ; set it on the fire,
and when the bread is a little stewed, take a quarter of
a pound of butter, and roll it in fine flour to thicken it ;
then take an anchovy, alittle mace and nutmeg ; put in
your fish and boil it half-a-dozen times, and serve it up.”*

“ To stew Scallops.—Boil them very well in salt and
water; ihen take them out and stew them in a little of
their liquor, a glass of white wine, and a little vinegar ;
add some grated breadcrumbs, and the yolks of two or
three hard eggs minced small; stew all together till
they are sufficiently done; then add a large spoonful of
essence of anchovy, and a good piece of butter rolled
in flour; or stew very gradually in a rich white sauce,
with thick cream, until quite hot, without being allowed
to boil, and serve with sippets.t

* From an old MS. B.—C. C. W.
+ Murray’s ‘ Modern Cookery Book,’ p. 259.

114 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

‘To Cook Scallops.—Clean them from the shell ; take
off the beards, as also the black marks they bear ; then
cut them into four pieces. Fry some breadcrumbs with
butter, pepper and salt, to a light-brown colour. Then
throw in your scallops, and fry all together for about
three minutes and a half, taking care to shake the frying-
pan all the time. Last of all, press them tight into
shells or a dish, and brown them with a salamander, and
send them to table.”*

Fam. HALIOTID.
HALIOTIS.—EAR-SHELL.

HALIoris TUBERCULATA, Linneus. EHar-shell, or Ve-
nus’s Har.—Shell ear-shaped; short flat spire, lateral, and
nearly concealed; aperture wide ; a longitudinal row of
perforations on the left margin; the interior pearly and
iridiscent.

The Har-shell, Ormer, or Oreille de Mer,t+ is said to
take its place in the British fauna solely on account of its
being found in the Channel Islands, where it is very
abundant; but it is still more so on the coast of France,
between St. Malo and Granville, and great quantities are
brought from thence to the Jersey market, which is well
stocked during the summer, and they are sold at the rate
of sixpence a dozen. This celebrated shellfish has been
praised by old authors as a most delicate morsel. One

* “ A Man Cook.” See ‘Field,’ February 20, 1864.

+ In German it is the Seeohr; and Mr. Jeffreys gives the following
names for the ear-shell: it is the ormier, or si-ieu (six yeux) of the

French; the patella reale of the Sicilians, lapa burra of the Portu-
guese, and orecchiale of the Italians.

HALIOTID#.—EAR-SHELL, OR SEA-EAR. BES

writer speaks of the ormer, or Auris marina, “as a lump
of white pulp, very sweet and luscious,” and another, as
quoted by Professor Ansted, in his ‘Channel Islands,’
“a large shellfish, taken plentifully at low
tides, called an ormond, that sticks to the rocks, whence
we beat them off with a forck or iron hook. ’Tis much
bigger than an oyster, and like that, good either fresh
or pickled, but infinitely more pleasant to the gusto, so
that an epicure would think his palate in paradice if
he might but always gormondise on such delitious
ambrosia.” Athenzus also tells us that the @tva, or
ears, are most nutritious when fried. Again, he says,*
“ But otaria (and they are produced in the island called
Pharos, which is close to Alexandria) are more nutri-
tious than any of the before-mentioned fish (speaking
of cockles, sea-urchins, pinuas, etc.), but they are not
easily secreted. But Antigonus, the Carystian, says
this kind of oyster is called by the Aolians the ‘ Ear of
Werus.’’’

Captain Beechey, in his ‘ Voyage to the Pacific,’ men-
tions the abundance of two species of Haliotis in the Bay
of Monteroy, and that they are much sought after by
the Indians, not only for food, but because the shells
are used for ornaments, and the natives decorate their
baskets with pieces of them. Ha/liotis gigantea is eaten
by the Californian Indians, and the Chinese are very
partial to Venus’s-ears, which form part of a Chinese
dinner, with sea-snails, sharks’ fins, etc. The natives of
New Zealand call Haliotis iris, the mutton fish.

In Guernsey, ear-shells are used by farmers to frighten
away small birds from the standing corn—two or three
of these shells bemg strung together and suspended by

* ¢Deipnosophists,’ vol. i. bk. iii. 35, p. 146.
12

mentions

116 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

a string from the end of a long stick, so as to make a
clattering noise when moved by the wind.*

Haliotide in great quantities are brought to Birming-
ham from various parts of the world, for making mother-
of-pearl ornaments, inlaying papier-maché tables, etc.,
and also for making buttons. An instance has been
known of a ship arriving at London from Panama,
bringing more than two millions of pearl-shells for the
English markets.

The wholesale price in the Channel Islands for shells
of the first quality is £10 per ton, and by retail they are
sold at 1d. per |b.

Mother-of-pearl, however, is not only made from the
Hahiotide, but the snail pearl-shell Tur4o cornutus, the
white pearl-shell, Meleagrina margaritifera, are also used
in this manufacture. Curiously carved pearl-shells, the
work of the monks at Bethlehem, are sold by them to pil-
grims and others who visit the Holy Land, and Bruce
states that mother-of-pearl inlaying was brought to great
perfection at Jerusalem. The nacre was from the Lalu
el Berberi, or Abyssinian oyster. Great quantities were
brought daily from the Red Sea to Jerusalem, and cru-
cifixes, wafer-boxes, and beads were made and sent to
the Spanish dominions in the New World.t

In the days of luxury at Rome, the pannels in the
golden house of Nero were of mother-of-pearl, enriched

+

with gold and gems ;t and dishes, bowls, and cups of
pearl-shell, were greatly esteemed in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Leland, in his ‘ Collectanea,’§$

describes the christening of the child of the Lady Cicile,
* Jeffreys’ ‘ British Conchology,’ vol. i. ; Introduction, Ixix.

+ Bruce’s Travels ; see appendix, vol. viii. p. 337, 338.
t ‘ Gems and Jewels,’ p. 24. -§ Vol. ii, p. 691.

HALIOTIDH.—EAR-SHELL, OR SEA-EAR, EY7

“ wife to John, Erle of Este Frieseland, called the Mar-
quis of Bawden, and sister to Eryke, King of Sweden,
and the decorations of the chapel, &c. The christening
took place at the ‘Queene’s Palleyes, Westminster,’
30th Sept., Anno 1565, and the chappell was hung with
cloathe of gold. The communion table was richely fur-
nished with plate and jewells, and amongst other orna-
ments were a ‘ Fountayne and Basen of mother-of-pearl,
two shippes of mother-of-pearle, and another shipe of
mother-of-pearl.’”’? Mr. G. R. Corner* mentions a very
elegant cup in the possession of the Queen, made of
staves of turbo-shell, mounted on a stem and foot of
silver gilt. He also adds that the polished, but un-
mounted turbo, has been employed as a festive cup in
Wales, to a comparatively late period.

We read also of a watch set in “ mother-of-pearle,
with three pendantes of gold, garnished with sparkes of
rubies, and an opall in everie of them, and three small
pearles pendent,” which Lord Russell presented to Queen
Elizabeth. The cathedral at Panama has two towers,
with short steeples on them painted white, and these
steeples are said by Mr. Elwest to be faced with the
large pearl oyster-shells ; but they do not look well.

The scabbard of the sword of the Emperor Napo-
leon I., which he wore when First Consul, is of gold and
mother-of-pearl ; and mock pearls are now much used
for jewellery made of the pearl-shell; the effect being
nearly as good as real vearls, and far better than the
most successful imitations in paste; and Theophilus, in
his essay on various arts, speaks of ‘“ sea-shells which
are cut into picces, and filed as pearls, sufficiently useful

* «Journal of Archeological Association,’ vol. xiv. p. 344, 349.
+ W.S.W., or a Voyage in that Direction to the West Indies.

1:8 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

upon gold.”’* Various kinds of shells are used for or-
namental purposes, on account of their beautiful na-
creous layer: e.g. a Mediterranean species of the little
Phasianella, which is made into necklaces, earrings, etc.,
and known in England as “ Venetian shells; and in
Paris I noticed some pretty bracelets, brooches, earrings,
necklaces, and studs, made of the Trigonia pectinata,
an Australian bivalve, so arranged as to show the bright
pinkish-purple nacre inside the valves. The Miranha
Indians also wear on holidays a large button made of
the pearly river-shell, in a slit, cut in the middle of each
nostril ;f and Sir Samuel Baker states that the women
of the Shir tribe, living on the White Nile, make girdles
and necklaces of small pieces of river mussel-shells,
threaded upon the hair of the giraffe’s tail, and that the
effect is nearly the same as a string of mother-of-pearl
buttons. t

Through the kindness of Mr. Morton, of St. Clement’s,
Jersey, | am enabled to give the following recipe for
cooking the sea-ear :—

“To Dress them to Perfection.—Take them out of the
shells, and well scrub them ; then let them simmer for
two or three hours, until they are quite tender, after
which they may be scalloped as an oyster, or put into
the pan to brown with butter.”’

They require to be well beaten with a stick or ham-
mer, to make them tender, if they are to be fried, and
they are likewise sometimes pickled with vinegar.

3

* Theophilus, “ qui et Rugerus,” etc., translated by Robert Hendrie,
chap. xev. p. 391.

+ ‘ Naturalist on the Amazon,’ by H. Bates, vol. ii. p. 197.

t ‘ Albert Nyanza,’ Baker, vol. 1. p. 84.

119

Fam. PATELLID.
PATELLA.—LIMPET.

PaTELLA vuLGata, Linneus. Limpet.—Shell oval
and conical in shape; apex central, or nearly so, strong,
sometimes with ribs diverging from the apex to the
margin, and sometimes quite smooth. Colours various,
pale greyish-yellow or greenish-brown, inside generally
showing the same colour through, and the markings of
the ribs distinctly towards the margin ; the insid¢ of the
apex an opaque bluish-white, and the whole slightly po-
lished. |

The common limpet is found distributed all round
our coasts, where it is greatly valued as bait by fisher-
men, and Dr. Johnson calculates that in Berwick alone,
there is an annual consumption of no fewer than
11,880,000 limpets for that purpose.* At low tide, lim-
pets may be collected in great numbers from the rocks
and boulders. Some are seen safely ensconced in holes
or depressions made by means of the muscular action of
their foot or disk, which is the width of the shell;
others are seen creeping about in search of fresh rest-
ing-places, or food, with their tentacles slightly pro-
truding beyond the shell, till alarmed by some touch or
otherwise; and they adhere with wonderful strength to
the rocks. Wordsworth says :—

** And should the strongest arm endeavour
The limpet from its rock to sever,
Tis seen its loved support to clasp,
With such tenacity of grasp,
We wonder that such strength should dwell
In such a small and simple shell.”

On the Devonshire coast I have found them very
* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Mollusca, vol. ii. p. 425.

120 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. -

large, and worn quite smooth ; some specimens measuring
as much as eight inches in circumference.

Limpets, a foot in diameter, are found on the Western
coast of South America, and are used by the natives as
basins.*

In many places limpets are used for food, especially
on the Continent, where they are oftener eaten than the
periwinkle. At Naples they make them into soup, and
I am told it is an excellent dish. At Eastbourne we
have often seen the Irish reapers come down to the —
shore and eat the limpets raw, which they had knocked
off the rocks with their knives. The poorer classes at
Eastbourne also eat them constantly; the children col-
lecting them at low tide from the rocks. Mr. Patterson
while residing, in 1837, near the town of Larne, co.
Antrim, endeavoured to form some idea of the quantity
of the common limpet taken from the rocks on that
part of the coast, and used as food; and he had reason
to believe that the weight of the boiled fish was above
eleven tons. At Plymouth they gather great numbers
of them, especially from the breakwater, as well as in
the Isle of Man, where they are known by the name of
“ flitters ;” and in Scotland the juice of these shellfishes
is mixed with oatmeal. In the Feroe Isles they call
them “ flia;”’ and in ‘ Life in Normandy’ (vol. 1. p. 192)
we are iold “that limpets are constantly eaten by the
poor; and that at Granville the children use a square-
pointed knife, with a thick back, for getting them off
the rocks; some having, in addition, small wooden ham-
mers; others only a stone in their right hands. The
edge of the knife was applied always on one side, and
never on the top of the shell; a litile sharp tap was

* Cuming, as quoted by Woodward, in ‘ Recent and Fossil Shells,’

PATELLIDH. —LIMPET. Ral

given, either with the hammer or stone, and the fish fell
at once.” This reminds us of Hermippus, who says,—
‘* And beating down the limpets from the rocks,
They make a noise like castanets.”’ *

The Patellide were also among the shellfish eaten by
the ancients; Diphilus says they have a pleasant flavour,
are easily digested, and when boiled are particularly
nice.t It is a curious fact, and one which is puzzling to
archeologists, that limpet shells should be found in such
abundance in cromlechs, both in the Channel Islands
and in Brittany, surrounding. the remains of the dead,
often covering the bones, skulls, etc., to the depth of two
and three feet in thickness. Mr. F. C. Lukis, in the
‘Journal of the Archeological Association’ (vol. i. p. 28),
mentions finding limpet shells, mixed with earth, round
the bones, in the Cromlech du Tus, or de Hus, Guern-
sey. Again, in a “cromlech” in Jersey, discovered in
April, 1848, Mr. Lukis adds that there is a difficulty
in solving the great question—why such a mass of lm-
pet shells should invariably accompany these abodes of
the dead? They are found not only in the earliest de-
posits, but also amongst the more recent.t

The term “‘Cromlech,” as applied to the ‘* Cromlech
du Tus,’ is a local name, used in the Channel Islands
for a subterranean chamber, lined with upright slabs,
covered by a roof of one or more slabs of stone, with a
long passage leading to it, formed in like manner of up-
right slabs covered by large lintels,—over which has
been raised a tumulus of earth; while our term Crom-
lech 1s applied to those covered by one capstone only,

* Atheneus, Deipn., book xiv. 39.

+ Athenzeus, vol. i. book iii. p. 152.
t Journal of the Archeological Association, vol. iv. p. 336.

122 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

without any passage leading to them.* Those consist-
ing of chambers and a long entrance passage, covered
by slabs, within a large tumulus of earth, as at Wellow,
near Stoney Littleton; at Rodmarton; at Uley; and at
Nympsfield, are called Tumps. In speaking of Crom-
lechs, in the Channel Islands, I do not therefore allude
to monuments such as we call Cromlechs; which last,
though probably sepulchral, have not yet been found to
contain interments.

Necklaces of limpets and other shells, strung together
on fibre or sinews, are found in early British graves.

Limpet shells are also used for mortar.

In the island of Herm, near Guernsey, poultry are
fed on Patella vulgata ; but it is said that they will not
touch Patella athletica, which is also considered too
tough for bait.

Sea-birds feed on the Patella, and Mr. Gatcombe, in
the ‘ Field,’ August, 1863, mentions having once taken
from the gullet of an oyster-catcher upwards of thirty
limpets. He also adds an account of a curious occur-
rence which took place on the Plymouth breakwater
some time ago:—One of the workmen employed on
the breakwater observed a sandpiper fluttering in a pe-
culiar manner, and discovered on approaching it, that it
had been made prisoner by a limpet. It would appear
that, in running about in search of food, the bird’s toe
had accidentally got under a limpet, which, suddenly
closing to the rock, held it fast until the man came
up, who with his knife removed the limpet, and released
the bird.

The French call this shell dépas, Patelle, Jambe, eil

* See Sir G. Wilkinson, “ British Remains of Dartmoor,” vol. xviii.
Journal Archeological Association, 1863.

PATELLIDA.—LIMPET. 123

de bouc,* and Bernicle ; the Germans, Schiisselmuschel,
Napfmuschel, or Napfschnecke ; the Spaniards, diampa ;
the Portuguese, Japa; and the Italians, /epade ; and in
Cornwall, limpet shells are called crogans.

Limpet Soup.—Wash them, and free the shells from
seaweed, etc.; put them into a saucepan and parboil
them. Take them out of the shells; chop up some
parsley, and put it, with a tablespoonful of oil, or an
ounce of lard or butter, into a saucepan, and fry until it
becomes brown. Add a pint of water, and, when boil-
ing, throw in the limpets, with a teaspoonful of anchovy
sauce, some pepper, and boil again for half an hour; or, if
preferred, stew them before putting them into the soup.

To Dress Limpets.—TYake those of a large size, and fry
them with a little butter, pepper, and vinegar. The
smaller ones are better boiled, and then eaten with vine-
gar and pepper.

Eastbourne method of Cooking Limpets.—Put them
on the gridiron till all the water boils out of them, and
then they are fit to eat.

Mr. Jeffreys speaks highly of roasted limpets, having
tasted them in the island of Herm. The limpets were
placed on the ground, and laid in their usual position,
and cooked by being covered with a heap of straw, which
had been set on fire, about twenty minutes before dinner.

Limpet Sauce.—Choose clean-shelled limpets, not
covered with barnacles, steep them in fresh water, and
then beat them in a close covered saucepan until they
part easily from the shells. They yield a rich brown
liquor, in which, after being shelled, they may be stewed
for half an hour. Thicken the liquor with butter and

* Jeffreys’ Brit. Conchology, vol. iii. p. 241.
+ Brit. Conchology, vol. iii. p. 239.

124: EDIBLE FRITISH MOLLUSKS.

flour; strain and season with pepper, cayenne, and salt,
and a slight flavouring of lemon-juice or vinegar. The
limpets, being tough and indigestible, are not returned
into the sauce.*

Fam. MURICIDA:.
BUCCINUM.—W HELK.

Buccinum unpatum, Linneeus. Whelk.—Shell ovate,
with eight whorls, more or less inflated, covered with
transverse coarse striz ; waved or undulated obliquely,
covered with a yellowish-brown epidermis ; length about
four inches. The aperture large, nearly half the length
of the body whorl. Columella strong, pillar lip smooth,
and bent back; interior white, very polished, sometimes
lemon-colour, or orange; canal short; operculum of a
reddish horn colour. .

The shell of the common whelk, or buckie, the Buccin
ondé of the French, varies very much in colour, being
sometimes yellowish, without bands, and other specimens
having chestnut spiral bands, or wavy blotches. White
varieties are occasionally taken, and the shell figured
being dredged up in deep water, has still the rough oli-
vaceous-coloured epidermis on it. It is found often on
the beach, and is a great enemy to other mollusks,
boring holes in their shells, and sucking the juices of the
fish within, by means of its spiny tongue. Dr. Harvey,
in his ‘ Seaside Book,’ says that “the proboscis of the
whelk consists of two cylinders, one within the other,
the outer of which serves for the attachment of the mo-
tor muscles, and the general protection of the organ ;

* ‘Practical Cookery,’ p. 95, Hartlaw Reid.

MURICID#.—WHELK. 125

while the inner, opening near the extremity with a lon-
gitudinal mouth, armed with two strong cartilaginous
lips, encloses the tongue, and a great part of the cesopha-
gus. The tongue is armed with short spines, and act-
ing in concert with the hard lips, which can be opened
or shut, or strongly pressed together, it forms a sort of
rasp or auger, by which very hard substances are rapidly
perforated; and then the tongue being protruded, the
hooked spines with which it is armed, are admirably
fitted for the collection of food.”

Whelks are taken in great numbers in wicker baskets
baited with offal, and Pliny describes the taking of the
“purple fish” by a similar method, viz. in a kind of
osier kipe, called nassis, baited with cockles.* Bullings-
gate Market is chiefly supplied from Harwich and Hull;
and some of the steamers from the north bring six or
seven tons ata time.t They are sold at 1s. 6d. to 2s. a
measure ; are in season from August to September,
though they are really good to eat at any time. Children
are frequently seen buying a saucer of whelks in Lon-
don in the spring; and the shellfish shops near Bil-
lingsgate Market are well stocked with them. ‘There
are, as Woodward remarks, two different shellfish sold
in London, under the name of ‘ whelks,” or “ buckies,” |
namely, the common Buccinum undatum, and the more
prized Fusus antiquus. Whelks are very troublesome to
the lobster-fishers, for they often devour the bait, and I
have seen, at St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe, on the Kentish
coast, the lobster-pots drawn up, one after the other,
baitless, and full of these greedy mollusks; most try-
ing to the poor fishermen, especially when bait was

* Pliny’s Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. p. 445.
+ ‘ Curiosities of Food,’ pp. 345-6.

126 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

scarce, and they had been obliged to walk some miles in
the morning to purchase it.

On some parts of the coast the fishermen use the
Buccinum for bait for the long-line fishing, and they
know it by the following names, viz. the conch, buckie,
whelk-tingle, or sting-winkle ;* and at Youghal they call
whelks ‘‘ googawns,” and ‘ cuckoo shells.”

In ‘ Popular History of the Mollusca,’ by Miss Ro-
berts, she mentions this species of shell being used in
North Wales as trumpets by the farmers for calling their
labourers ; and shells of a similar kind are also used in
Muscovy and Lithuania by the herdsmen for collecting
their cattle, horses, mules, goats, and sheep. The
Italian herdsmen use them also.

In some parts of Staffordshire the farmers call up
their cattle by means of a horn or trumpet. In Tahiti
shells were also used as trumpets,—a species of murex
being the kind generally employed for that purpose. The
largest shells were selected, sometimes a foot in length,
and seven or eight inches in diameter at the mouth. A
perforation, about an inch in diameter, was made near
the apex of the shell, in which was inserted a bamboo
cane, three feet in length, secured by being bound to
the shell,—the aperture rendered air-tight by the out-
sides of it being cemented with a resinous gum from the
breadfruit-tree. These shells were blown when any
procession marched to the temple, and at other religious
ceremonies; besides being used by the herald, and on
board the native fleets. The sound is described as very
Joud, monotonous, and dismal.

We are told that in the island of Tanna, in the New
Hebrides, shell trumpets are blown as signals to the

* A Book for the Seaside.

MURICID.E.—WHELK. 127

disease-makers, or sorcerers, to entreat them to stop
plaguing their victims. ‘These disease-makers col-
lected any nahak, or rubbish, that had belonged to any
one, such as the skin of a banana he had eaten, wrapped
it in a leaf like a cigar, and burnt it slowly at one end.
As it burnt, the owner’s illness increased ; and if it was
burnt to the end, he died: therefore, as soon as a man
fell ill, feeling sure that some sorcerer was burning his
rubbish, shell trumpets, which can be heard for miles,
are blown as a signal to the sorcerers to stop, and wait
for the presents which should be sent in the morning.
When a disease-maker fell ill himself, he too believed
that some one was burning his rubbish, and had his
shells blown for mercy.” *

The large chank-shell, Turbinella rapa, is a chief in.
strument of the Buddhists, who blow three times a day
on this sacred shell, to summon believers to worship ; and
the same authority states that, according to the most
ancient annals of the Cingalese, the chank-shell is
sounded in one of the superior heavens of the demi-
gods (similar to the conch-blowing tritons of Grecian
mythology) in honour of Buddha, as often as the latter
wanders abroad on the earth.t Sir J. E. Tennent men-
tions that this chank-shell is exported from Ceylon to
India as a wind instrument, and also to be sawn into
rings for anklets and bracelets; and also that a chank
in which the whorls were reversed, and ran from right
to left, instead of from left to right, was regarded with
such reverence, that a specimen formerly sold for its
weight in gold, but that now, one may be had for £4 or

* Turner, ‘ Polynesia,’ as quoted in Taylor’s History of Mankind,
p. 128.

+ ‘ Voyage of the Novara,’ vol. i. p. 388.

128 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

£5. The Chinese also hold reversed chank-shells in
special veneration, and give high prices for them. They
are kept in the Pagodas by the priests and used on
special occasions, and the consecrated oil is kept in one
of these sinistrorsal Turbinellide, with which the Em-
peror is anointed at his coronation.* From the earliest
ages, the Gulf of Manaar has been fished for chanks.

Dr. Potter, in his ‘ Archzologia Greeca,’ vol. 11., states
that the ancient Greeks used shells as trumpets, as the
Spaniards do at the present day ; and that the first Gre-
cian signals were lighted torches thrown from both
armies by men who were priests of Mars, and that these
signals being laid aside, shells of fishes succeeded, which
were sounded in the manner of trumpets, which in those
days were not invented. Hence Theognis’s riddle may
easily be interpreted :—

“A sea-inhabitant with living mouth
Spoke to me to go home, though dead it was.”

Triton’s shell-trumpet is famous im poetical story,
whence Ovid, speaking of Neptune :—

* Already Triton at his call appears

Above the waves, a Tyrian robe he wears ;

And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears.

The sov’reign bids him peaceful sounds inspire,

And give the waves the signal to retire ;

His writhen shell he takes, whose narrow vent,

Grows by degrees into a large extent.” — Dryden.
And most of the poets mention this custom in their
description of primitive wars.

The German name for the whelk is very appropriate,

viz. Trompetenschnecke, or Kinkhorn. In Anglo-Saxon,

whelk is weolc, but weolc is said to mean that which

* Lubbock’s ‘Prehistoric Times,’ vol. i. p. 222.

MURICIDEH.—WHELK. . 12S

gives the purple dye (therefore it would apply better to
the dog-whelk, Buccinum lapillus, or Purpura lapillus,
which yields a purple dye); thus, embroidered with
purple is weolc-basn-hewen ; scarlet dye is weolc-read.
In 1684 Purpura lapillus, the dog-whelk, was employed
for dyeing linen in Ireland; and Neumann says that the
purple-fish was also found on the coasts of Ireland, and
that some persons made considerable profit by marking
linen with its juices.

The shell, which is very hard, is broken by a smart
blow, taking care not to crush the body of the fish
within. After picking off the broken pieces, there ap-
pears a white vein or reservoir, lying transversely in a
little furrow near the head. This being carefully taken
out, and characters drawn with it, or its viscid juice
squeezed upon linen or silk, the part immediately ac-
quires, on being exposed to the sun, a pale yellowish-
green, which. quickly deepens into an emerald green,
then changes to a blue, and at last to a fine purplish-
red. If the cloth be now washed with scalding water
and soap, and laid again in the sun, the colour changes
to a beautiful crimson, which suffers no further altera-
tion from sun or air, soap, alum, alkaline leys, or any
of the substances used for assaying the permanency of
colours.

The juice of the purple-fish receives no colour itself,
and communicates none to silk or linen, without expo-
sure to the sun. It seems to he the light, and not the
heat, of the sun, that calls forth the tincture; for when
the cloth is covered with thin opake bodies, which trans-
mit heat without light, no colour is produced, while
transparent Ones give no impediment to its produc-
tion. The juice, itself, in close glass vessels, becomes

K

130 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

presently purple in the sun.* Lister, in 1686, mentions
the discovery of a shellfish, Purpura Anglicana, on the
shores of the Severn, in which there is a vein, contain-
ing a juice, giving the delicate and durable tincture
of the rich Tyrian purple. A writer in the ‘ Annual
Register’ for 1760 says that, being “at a gentleman’s
house in the west of Ireland,” he “took particular no-
tice of the gown of the lady of the house. It was a
muslin flowered with the most beautiful violet colour... .
She told me it was her own work, and took me to the
seaside, where she gathered some little shells; .. . beating
them open and extracting the liquor with the point of a
clean pen, she marked some spots directly before me.”
He adds :—“I suppose a hundred fishes would not pro-
duce a drop as large as a pea.” Richard of Cirencester
also mentions as a production of Britain, shells “ from
which is prepared a scarlet dye of the most beautiful
hue, which never fades from the effect of sun or rain.”

It is also stated in the ‘Athenzeum’ of July 20, 1850,
that the Nicaraguan Indians use a purple dye prepared
from shellfish.

Pliny says that there are two kinds of fish that pro-
duce the purple-dye, the Buccinum and the Purpura,
purple, or pelagia.t Murex trunculus is generally con-
sidered to have yielded it.

We all know the story of the discovery of the Por-
phyra shellfish, by the dog of a Tyrian nymph loved by
Hercules; which having picked up some of these shells,
and crushed them with its teeth, its mouth became
stained with purple-dye. It is scarcely probable that it

* Neumann’s ‘Chemistry,’ p. 510; the Memoirs of the French Aca-
demy for 1736. See Philosophical Transactions, No. 178.
+ Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. chap. 67.

MURICIDH.—WHELK. 131

could crush the strong hard shells of the Buccinum, or
Murex, but it might easily break the beautiful fragile
shell of the Helix ianthina, which we know yields a
purple juice; for though a fable, the above was intended
to relate a possible event; and we are told by Sir Gard-
ner Wilkinson that the zanihina is common on the coast
about Tyre and Beyrout. And though so very small,
being only the size of a small snail, three-quarters of an
inch in diameter, the water becomes completely coloured
all around it whenever it is alarmed, and throws out
its purple liquid.*

Athenzeus speaks of many different kinds of pirat
fish, some of them of large size, like those which are
found near Segeum and Lesteum; and some small, like
those found in the Euripus, and around Caria. Accord-
ing to Pliny, the juice of the Buccinum was considered
inferior by itself, but mixed with that of the pelagia, it
blended well, and gave a bright lustre to the colour.
The proper proportions for dyeing fifty pounds of wool,
were 200 pounds of juice of the Buccinum, and 111
pounds of pelagium,t and this mixture produced a beav-
tiful amethyst-colour. The Tyrian hue was given to
wool by soaking it in the juice of the pelagia, while the
mixture was in a raw state, and afterwards dipping it in
the juice of the Buccinum. The best quality was of the
colour of blood, of a blackish hue to the sight, but of a
shining appearance when held up to the light.{ The
“ conchyliated” colour comprehended a variety of shades,
viz. that of the heliotropium, as well as one of a deeper
colour; that of the mallow, inclining to a full purple, and

* See note, Rawlinson’s ‘ Herodotus,’ vol. ii. bk. ili. chap. 20, p. 415.
+ Pelagia was the shellfish, and pelagium the juice, or colour, from it.
t Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. chap. 62 (88).

K 2

132 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

that of the late violet; this last being the most vivid of
all the ‘‘ conchyhated”’ tints.*

The best purple in Asia was that of Tyre, and the pe-
culiar symbol of that city was the whelk, or purpura,
and it appears on the Tyrian medals.t Strabo remarks
that this city was rendered unpleasant as a place of re-
sidence, owing to the great number of its dyeing-works.
In the days of Ezekiel, purple was imported by the Ty-
rians from the Peloponnesus, but they soon learned to
extract the dye for themselves. A modern traveller, Mr.
Wilde, observed at Tyre numerous round holes cut in
the solid sandstone rock, in which shells seem to have
been crushed. They were perfectly smooth on the inside,
and many of them shaped like a modern iron pot, broad
and flat at the bottom, and narrowing towards the top.
Many of these were filled with a breccia of shells ; and
he supposes that all the shells were of one kind, probably
Murex trunculus.t

In Africa, the island of Meninx (now called Gerbee,
in the Gulf of Cabes) was famed for its purple, as well
as parts of Geetulia, that border on the ocean; and in
Europe, the best came from Laconia.

Cornelius Nepos speaks of the Yarentine red; and
Hardouin remarks that in his time were still to be seen
the remaius of the ancient dyeing-houses at Tarentum,
and that vast heaps of the shells of the murex had been
discovered.§ |

Aufrére, in 1789, describes a hill called Monte Tes-

* Pliny, vol. iv. bk. xxi. 22 (8). + Heraldry of Fish.

t W. Smith, Dict. of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 1581, article “Tyre.” A
friend of mine has also seen these holes, round, square, and oblong, 2
to 3 ft. deep, but doubts their containing a breccia of shells pounded
up in ancient times.

§ Pliny, Nat. Hist., see note, vol. ii. bk. ix. ch. 63 (39).

MURICIDH.—WHELK. 133

taceo, behind the Alcantarine Convent, at Tarento, con-
sisting chiefly of the shells of Murex brandaris, which
were supposed to have produced the purple dye; and ac-
cording to Dr. Bizio, the Tyrian purple was produced
from this Murex brandaris, and the amethystine purple
from Murex trunculus.{ Romulus employed the purple-
dye for the trabea. It was purple and white, something
similar in cut to the foga, and was the royal robe worn
by the early kings. Servius mentions two other kinds
of trabea besides the one already described, one wholly
of purple, which was sacred to the gods, and another of
purple and saffron, which belonged to augurs. Julius
Cesar appears to have been the first of the Roman em-
perors who wore the toga entirely of purple.*

In ‘ Religious Ceremonies,’ p. 309, we are told that
the Pope celebrates Mass in Lent, Advent, and all eves
on which fasting is required, in a purple robe.

Other shellfish produce purple dyes—amongst them,
Aplysia hybrida, and I have dyed a piece of linen with
the beautiful purple liquid which it emits, but it faded
quickly.

Dr. Darwin mentions a large Aplysia which is com-
mon at the Cape de Verd Islands, five inches long, and
of a dirty yellowish colour, veined with purple, which,
when disturbed, emits a very fine purplish-red fluid which
stains the water for a space of a foot round.

Scalaria communis yields a purple liquor destructible
by acids, and Planorbis corneus, a purplish fluid, but it
cannot be made of any use, though Lister tried several
experiments with the vain hope of being able to fix it.
In Spain, Murex trunculus is eaten, and Pupura lapillus

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. see note, vol. iv. bk. xxi. chap. 22.
+ Cic. Philipp. ii. 34.

kas EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

is said by M. Cailliaud to be used for food in the spring:
(after the fish have spawned) by some of the inhabitants
of St. Michel-Chef-Chef, in the department of the Loire
Inférieure.

The Almond Whelk, or Red Whelk as it is sometimes —
called, Fusus antiquus, is eaten at Liverpool; and great
quantities are taken on the Cheshire coast. In Dublin,
the fishermen use them principally for bait for the larger
kind of fish, such as cod and ling, and only occasionally
eat them boiled or pickled. The beautiful large white
variety is dredged off the Irish coast. My largest speci-
men from Dublin measures 63 inches in length and 34
inches in breadth, and Mr. Jeffreys saw the shells used
as lamps in the Shetland Isles by the northern fishermen.
They are suspended from a nail in the wall or ceiling of
the hut, by means of a piece of string, which is fastened
round the shel! in a triangular form. The inside is
filled with fish-oil, and a wick of cotton or tow is put
into the canal at the extremity of the mouth.*

In ‘Antiquitates Culinaria,’ it is said that at the en-
thronization feast of William Warham, Archbishop of
Canterbury, 1m 1504, 8000 whelks were supplied at five
shillings a thousand, and they were served up as an
accompaniment to sturgeon; and amongst the dishes
forming part of the second course, we read of Sturgeon
in foyle with welkes.

In heraldry we find whelks used, and the arms of
Sir John Shelley, of Maresfield, in Sussex, are sable,
a fess engrailed between three whelk-shells or. The
Shellys of Lincolnshire bear, argent a chevron gules,
between three whelks sable ;+ and the crest of Venables

* Jeffreys’ ‘British Conchology,’ vol. i. p. Ixviii. Introduction.
+ Burke’s ‘General Armorie.’

LITTORINID&.—PERIWINKLE. 135

of Cheshire, is a wyvern gules, issuing from a whelk-
shell argent; and many other examples might be
given.*

A buccinum, or whelk, with a figure rising out of it,
or rather looking out of it, is sculptured on the font in
St. Clement’s Church, Sandwich.

Dublin Method of Cooking Whelks.—Cleanse them
well, boil them till they can easily be taken from the
shell, and then fry them with plenty of fa¢ or butter, till
they are brown.

Whelk Soup.—Take two onions and cut them into
small dice, fry them in a stewpan with some butter;
shake the pan well for a few minutes, add five heads
of celery, two handfuls of spinach, two cabbage lettuces
cut small, and some parsley. Shake the pan again, put
in two quarts of water, some crusts of bread, a tea-
spoonful of pepper, and a blade or two of mace. Let
this boil gently for an hour. Boil the whelks, take
them out of their shells and fry them a good brown,
then add them to the soup and let the whole boil a few
minutes, then serve.t

Another Way of making Whelk Soup.—Wash the
whelks well, boil them and pick them out of the shells.
Put an ounce of butter or dripping, with some finely
chopped parsley, an onion, a little pepper and salt, into
a saucepan, and fry it until it becomes brown, adding a
little flour. Then to this add a pint of water or a pint
and a half of milk, and when it boils place in the
whelks, and a teaspoonful of anchovy. Let it boil again
for half an hour, then serve.

To dress Whelks.—Boil them till quite tender, then
eat them with vinegar and pepper.

.* Fairbairn’s ‘ Crests of Great Britain.’ + Old Cookery Book.

186

Fam. LITTORINID.
IdTTORINA.— PERIWINKLE.

Lirrorina tirrorea, Linneus. Periwinkle.—Shcell
spiral, solid; whorls six or seven in number, covered with
longitudinal striz ; apex very pointed ; aperture nearly
round and large; pillar lip flat, broad, and white;
outer lip sharp, sometimes white, and occasionally
showing the colour of the exterior of the shell through.
Interior of the shell a dark brown. Operculum dark
horn-colour. .

In Anglo-Saxon, the periwinkle is called sea-snegl,
or sea-snail; in Ireland, the horse-winkle and shellimidy
forragy, aud at Belfast, whelks; in Cornwall, gwean ;
and in the north, corvins; and the French give it the
name of sabot, or wooden shoe, as well as vignot or vi-
gnette, and bigorneau. In Brittany it is called, as else-
where observed, vrelin or brélin ;* and few persons who
have paid a visit to the seaside can have failed to re-
mark this common shell, which, at lew tide, may be seen
crawling over the tangled masses of seaweed. Many
pleasant hours do children pass in gathering basketfuls
of periwinkles, taking them home and boiling them, and
enjoying a hearty meal, with the accompaniment of good
thick slices of bread-and-butter. Periwinkles vary much
in colour, some being of a dark olive-green, nearly black
or of a pale greenish-white, like the specimen figured ;
and others red or rufous-brown, with narrow bands of
smoke colour. Varieties of form also occur, and I pro-
cured from Exmouth two curious specimens, with the
whorls angular and the edges sharp, instead of rounded.

* Jeffreys’ Brit. Conch. vol. iii. p. 371.

LITTORINIDZ.—PERIWINKLE. 137

Athenzeus, in his ‘ Deipnosophists,’ mentions several
kinds of periwinkles. He says, ‘Of the periwinkle,
the white are the most tender, and they have no dis-
agreeable smell, ... but of the black and red kinds the
larger are exceedingly palatable, especially those that
are caught in the spring. As a general rule, all of them
are good for the stomach, and digestible when eaten with
cinnamon and pepper.”

There is a large consumption of these little mollusks
in London; and Billingsgate market is supplied from
various parts of the British coast; the largest supply is
in May and June, and they sell at one shilling a
measure. Mr. Patterson, of Belfast, states, in his ‘ In-
troduction to Zoology,’ that quantities of periwinkles
are annually shipped from Belfast for London, and in
1861 the amount was 3394 bags, each containing about
three bushels, and weighing 34 cewt., so that the peri-
winkles exported in that year exceeded 10,000 bushels,
and weighed nearly 600 tons.

In the Orkneys, at Stromness, I am told that they
are collected in sacks, and sent south to the different
markets.

Professor Simmonds states that the annual consump-
tion of periwinkles in London has been estimated at
76,000 baskets, weighing 1900 tons, and valued at
£15,000; further, that the inhabitants of Kerara, near
Oban, gather them, and get sixpence a bushel for col-
lecting them, and forward them from Oban to Glasgow,
thence to Liverpool, en route for London. About 380
tons are sent up to London from Glasgow.

Mr. A. Morton tells me that in Jersey the market is
supphed with periwinkles brought from Southampton,
those found in the island being very small; and occa-

1388 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

sionally a few pints of the Zrochus appear in the market
and are sold as winkles.

The Chinese are very partial to sea-snai/s, and we
read in a description given of a Chinese dinner that the
second course consisted of a ragott made of them. At
Macao, these sea-snails are white, but at Ningpo they
are green, viscous, and slippery, and by no means easy
to pick up with chop-sticks. Their taste resembles the
green fat of the turtle. It is curious that the most
abundant shell found in the Scotch kjékkenméddings is
the periwinkle, and it is also met with in great numbers
in the Danish shell-mounds. |

Periwinkle Soup.—Take a pint and a half ora quart of
periwinkles, wash them well, and boil them in a sauce-
pan with a handful or two of salt, to enable you to pick
out the fish easily. Puta little dripping or butter into
a saucepan, with an onion or carrot, some chopped pars-
ley, and a sprig of thyme, and fry until it becomes
brown. Adda pint of water to this, and, as soon as it
boils, put in the periwinkles (which have been previously
picked out of their shells), with a little pepper and salt,
and let the whole boil again for half an hour.

To boil Periwinkles.—It is only necessary to put them
into a stewpan with as much water as will prevent the
bottom from burning, as the liquor oozing from them will
be sufficient for the purpose; when the shells open wide
enough to extract the fish, they will be sufficiently done.*

Note.—It is necessary to throw into the stewpan a
handful or two of salt with the periwinkles, otherwise
half the fish could not be picked out. The “ opening of
the shell” refers, we conclude, to the falling out of the
operculum.t

* Murray’s ‘ Modern Cookery Book.’ + M.S. L.

AVICULID#.—SEA-WING. 139

To stew Periwinkles—Clean them and wash them
from the sand in three or four waters, boil them and
pick them out of their shells. To a pint of fish put
half a pint of fish-stock, two ounces of butter, and some
pepper and salt; add a spoonful of flour, stirred in
gradually, and simmer over a slow fire until it is a pro-
per thickness; add a large spoonful of essence of an-
chovy, and one of mushroom sauce.*

Fam. AVICULID.
PINNA.—SEA-WING.

Pinna pectinara, Linneus. Sea-wing.—Shell wedge-
shaped, gaping at one end and tapering to a point at the
other, equivalve, horn-colour ; hinge toothless, straight,
and long; ligament linear, strong and elastic, and in-
ternal, sometimes smooth and at others with delicate
ribs which radiate from the beaks, which are straight and
pointed.

The Pinna is the largest of our British bivalves, and
specimens are found twelve inches long and seven broad
at the gaping end. Many pairs of this shell were fonnd
in the spring of 1862 on the beach at Dawlish, some of
them with the fish still alive in them; but they were all
small, the size of the one figured. Other localities men-
tioned by Forbes and Hanley are Salcomb Bay (where
a bed of these shells was discovered by Montagu),
Weymouth, and all the Dorset coast, Milford Haven, the
Hebrides, Zetland, and in Ireland off the coasts of Lon-
donderry, Antrim, Down, etc.; and at Youghal, where
they are known by the name of “ powder-horns,” the

* Murray’s ‘Modern Cookery Book.’

140 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

fishermen bring in fine specimens from the “ Nymph
Bank.” Mr. Jeffreys was informed by Mr. Spence
Bate, that at Plymouth the trawlers call the Pinne
“ caperlongers,” which word is supposed to be a corrup-
tion of cappa lunga,—the name they bear in the Medi-
terranean ; and that the familiarity of Plymouth seamen
with such Italian words is accounted for by so many of
our men-of-war having been at Naples. They are also
known in Italy by the following names :—nacherone,
madre-perna, and palostrega. In France they call them
jambonneaux ; and in Germany, Steckmuschel.

The Pinne live in sand and mud, with the small end
downwards, in an upright position, and attached by a
very strong byssus of silky thread. A small species of
crab lives frequently in the shell of the Pinna; and the
following is a quaint description given by Pliny of the
friendship of the Pinna and its little guest :—“ The
pinne is also of the tribe of shellfishes. It is always
found in muddy places, but never without a companion,
which they call pinnoteres or pinnophylax, and which is
a little shrimp, or in some places a crab, e searcher for
food. The pinna first gapes open, and, being destitute
of sight, exposes its body within to various little fishes,
which come leaping by close to it, and being unmolested,
grow so bold as to skip into its shell and fill it full. The
pinnoteres, waiting for the opportunity, gives notice to
the pinna by a gentle pinch; upon which, shutting its
mouth, it kills whatever is within its shell, and divides
the spoil with its companion.’’*

Mr. Sayt+ says that a small crab (a species of Pinno-
theres) which lives in the shell of the common American

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. ix. c. 42 (or 66, Tr. Bohn.)
+ Journ. Acad. Se. Phil. i. 68.

AVICULIDZ.—SEA-WING. 141

oyster (Ostrea Virginica) is much valued by oyster
eaters in the United States; and that in opening a
large quantity of oysters these little crabs are collected
apart, and serve to gratify the palate of gourmands.
They are only seven-twentieths of an inch long, by two-
fifths wide.*

The byssus or silky thread of the Pinna is called by
the Sicilian fishermen dana penna, and is manufactured
into a silken fabric. It was known to the ancients, and
ealled by them pinna-wool, and by the Tarentines lana
pesca, or fish-wool. St. Basil, Bishop of Czesarea, in
Cappadocia, mentions it in one of his homilies, saying,
“Whence had the pinna its gold-coloured wool,—that
colour which is inimitable ?”’+

Gibbon states that the Romans called the pinna the
“silkworm of the sea,” and that a robe made from the
silk was the gift of a Roman Emperor to one of the
Satraps of Armenia.

In Aufrére’s travéls is a description of the mode of
collecting these shellfish by the Neapolitans, and of the
manufacture of different articles from the silk :—

“As soon as a pinna is discovered, an iron instrument,
called pernonico, is slowly let down to the ground over
the shell, which is then twisted round and drawn out.
When the fishermen have got a sufficient number of
them, the shell is opened, and the silk, called lana penna,
is cut off the animal, and, after being twice washed in tepid
water, once in soap and water, and twice again in tepid
water, is spread upon a table, and suffered to become
half dry in some cool and shady place. Whilst it is yet
moist, it is softly rubbed and separated with the hand,

* Popular Hist. Brit. Crustacea, p. 54.
+ Stolberg’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 151, transl. by Thomas Holcroft.

142 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

and again spread upon the table to dry; and, when
thoroughly dried, it is drawn through a wide comb, and
afterwards through a narrow one. ‘I'hese combs are of
bone, and resemble hair-combs. The silk thus combed
belongs to the common sort, and is called extradente ;
but that which is destined for finer work is again drawn
through iron combs or cards, called scarde. It is then
spun with a distaff and spindle, two or three threads
of it being mixed with one of silk; after which they
knit, not only gloves, stockings, and waistcoats, but
even whole garments of it. When the piece is finished,
it is washed in clean water mixed with lemon-juice ;
after which it is gently beaten between the hands, and
finally smoothed with a warm iron. The most beauti-
ful are of a brown cinnamon, and glossy gold, colour.
A pair of gloves made of the pinua silk may be seen in
the British Museum ; and in the International Exhibition
some articles made of it were exhibited in the Italian
Court, viz. a large shawl, gloves, and specimens of the
thread in skeins.

As an article of food, the pinna is nearly as good as
the scallop; and Plutarch tells us that Matron, the pa-
rodist, speaks of it as forming one of the dishes at an
Attic banquet, saying—

** And pinnas sweet, and cockles fat were there,
Which the wave breeds beneath its weedy bed.”
Indeed, if we may judge from the number of times
Athenzeus mentions it amongst the various eatable shell-
fishes, it formed a favourite article of food amongst the
ancients, and was highly prized by them,—as it is at
Naples in these days, where it is considered a recherché
morsel, and too expensive for the poor people to indulge
in. It is of greater value for its byssus than for the table.

VENERID#®.—PULLET. 143

Poli remarks that it rarely appears in the Neapolitan
markets. He says that it is cooked at Naples with pep-
per, oil, and lemon-juice, and served with baked prunes.

The pinna may be cooked in the following manner :— ©

Pinna Soup.—Take five or six pinne, according to
their size, and after they have been weil washed, put
them into a saucepan on a slow fire until the shells
open; then take out the fish. Chop up some parsley
very fine, and put it with a tablespoonful of oil or an,
ounce of butter, into a saucepan, and fry until it be-
comes brown. To this add a pint of water, and, when
it boils, put in your fish, with a little salt and pepper,

Sometimes vermicelli is boiled with it, when more
water must be added; or take a slice or two of bread
nicely toasted, and, after cutting it up into small pieces,
put it into the soup before it is served.

Fried Pinne like Cutlets.—Take half-a-dozen of these
shellfish, and, after well washing them, place them in a
saucepan over a slow fire until they open of their own
accord ; take out the fish from their shells, and place
them on a dish, covering them well with flour or
breadcrumbs. Put some oil or lard into a frying-pan,
and, when it begins to boil, add your fish, and fry them
of a bright yellow colour. The frying-pan should be
gently shaken all the time, so that the fish may not ad-
here together, but be quite separate. Dried parsley
may be added just before serving up.

Fam. VENERID.
TAPES.—PULLET.

Tapes PuLuAstrA, Linneus. Pullet or Cullyock.—

144 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Shell oblong, opaque ; valves inequilateral, covered with
concentric striz, which become coarser and more wavy
towards the extremities, and are crossed by longitudinal
striz ; ligament external, long, horn-colour. Three teeth
in each valve, erect, very narrow.

Though so common a species, the Tapes is not so
generally eaten in England as abroad, though both this
and Tapes decussata are eaten in Devonshire, Hamp-
shire, and Sussex. They both inhabit muddy sand or
gravel, and occasionally we find specimens of the former
in holes which have been made by the Pholas, and de-
serted; and I have taken them out of hales in the
rocks both at Tenby and Eastbourne, but rarely with-
out some depression or distortion of the valves. But
the 7. decussata is more local than the 7. pullastra. I
had never found it in profusion till the spring of 1862,
when, on visiting the sands near the mouth of the Exe,
I noticed that at low-water mark the ground was
covered with specimens of it, and also with Scrobicularia
piperita, which is called by the Exmouth fishermen the
““mud-hen ;” but this latter is not used for food, as it
has a hot biting taste.* It is a larger and more rugged
shell than Tapes pullastra, though much resembling it,
but it is not so convex, and differs from it in colour,
being of a dirty white, with the bands, rays, or mark-
ings of a drab colour, sometimes of a purplish tinge ;
while Tapes pullastra is of a more yellowish-white, with
zigzag markings of a rufous-brown, sometimes extend-
ing all over the shell, and at others only towards the ex-
tremities.

In the Northern Isles the pullet, or cullyock, is only
used for bait.

* Jeffreys’ Brit. Conchology, vol. ii. p. 446.

VENERIDX.—PULLET. 145

Tapes decussata is called in some parts of England
* purr,’ and in Hampshire “ butterfish.” At Stubbing-
ton, near Tichfield, quantities are collected, and sold in the
neighbourhood, at 5d. per quart, where they are considered
richer and better than cockles. They are found at low
tide not far from high-water mark, and their locality is
easily detected by ¢wo holes in the saud or gravel (un-
like the cockle, which makes but one) about an inch or
so apart. They are easily dug up by means of an old
knife. On warm still days they appear to rise more
readily to the surface; but if cold or windy they bur-
row about two or three inches deep in the gravelly
sand. SButterfish are considered very wholesome, and I
was assured by the cockle-gatherers that they might be
eaten with impunity at all times of the year, and never
disagreed with people as the mussels and cockles occa-
sionally do.

M. Gay says that at Toulon it is known by the
name of clouvisso, and is a favourite dish m Conti-
nental seaports.* C/ovisse is another name for it, and
at Bordeaux it sells in the market from twenty to
thirty centimes per hundred, and both it and Tapes
pullastra are called palourde by the French. At Puerto
de Santa Maria, in Spain, it is very highly prized, ana
the Spaniards say “es buena” in speaking of it; and at
Vigo thousands are gathered at every tide.

Other species of Tapes are eaten abroad, besides those
already mentioned; and we may add another to our
edible mollusks, viz. Tapes Virginea, which is distributed
all round our coasts. It varies very much in colour,
and you may gather a dozen or more specimens without
finding two that resemble each other. The brightest I

* Jeffreys’ Brit. Conch. vol. ii. p. 361.
L

146 _EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

ever found was near Dawlish; it was mauve colour, with
white streaks. The largest are dredged at Tenby.

In Ireland, at Youghal, in Birterbury Bay, in Con-
nemara, and in Bantry Bay, Tapes aurea is said to be
eaten, but it is not a common species, though locally

abundant; and in the spring, numbers are found in the
Scilly Isles.

The Spaniards call the Tapes, Almejas, and, as I pre-
viously observed, prize it highly. At Cadiz, shellfish
are considered good if people drink too much wine, and
consequently they are often introduced at festas; and
no food is considered by the Spaniards so nourishing as
shellfish for those who work hard.

It is a rule at Spanish tables to hand round white
wine with shellfish, though with other things they use
any wine indiscriminately, and the wisdom of this cus-
tom is proved by experience. Indeed, serious illnesses
are often caused by taking port wine with oysters, lob-
sters, etc.; the astringent qualities of port having the
effect of hardening the shellfish, and sometimes produc-
ing violent indigestion.

The following recipes for cooking the Tapes are from
Cadiz :—

Tapes Soup—Sopa de Almejas.—Wash the shells and
put them into a saucepan with a little water, then put
them on the fire for a few minutes to open them. Pick
the fish out and put them into a clean saucepan, with
an onion chopped very small, salt, pepper, and butter.
Fry till they are of a good brown colour, then add water
or broth, aud boil till a strong soup is made. If pre-
ferred, fresh fish may be added when serving it.

Tapes decussata—Almejas blancas.—Wash them well,
dry them, and place them in a saucepan or casserole in

VENERID&H.—PULLET. 147

the oven, which must not be hot enough to burn them ;
when open, take them out of their shells, and place them
on a very slow fire, with butter, parsley, and a little
chopped onion; when tender, add a little flour, pepper,
and half a glass of white wine. As soon as they are
ready to serve, add the yolk of an egg well beaten, and
the juice of a lemon.

Tapes, another way—Almejas cocidas.—Wash and
open them as above, add butter and some chopped pars-
ley, serve in their own liquor, with the juice of a lemon
squeezed into it.

Tapes Ragottt—Almejas guisadas.— After having well
washed the shells, put them into an earthen vessel, with
a piece of butter; when open, pass the hquor that runs
from them through a sieve, and take the fish out of the
shells. Place the fish in the hquor, and add more
butter, mixed with chopped parsley, pepper, and salt ;
moisten them with broth, white wine, or water; let
them boil some minutes, and when ready to serve, add
an egg well beaten, some lemon-juice or vinegar.

Tapes au naturel—Almejas al natural.—Prepare them
as mentioned in the recipe above, then put the fish in a
saucepan with their own liquor; add whole peppercorns
and cook them over a very slow fire, shaking them about
from time to time; then add lemon-juice and shake
them again over the fire. Salt to your taste, and serve
without any other sauce.

Tapes Sauce—Salsa de Almejas.—Scald the fish in
boiling water to open their shells, but do not let them
be heated more than necessary, clean them nicely, and
mix them with a white sauce, acidulated with lemon-
juice or vinegar; use with boiled or fried fish.

Potage of Oysters and Tapes—Menesira de Ostras y

L 2

148 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Almejas.—Wash the shells and put them in hot water
to open them. Take out the fish, and put them in a
saucepan on the fire with a little water ; chop two onions
small and fry them in butter; while stirring them about
dredge in slowly a little flour; add the oysters and
Tapes, and the water in which they were boiled. Stir
the whole for a few minutes over the fire, then add the
yolk of an egg well beaten up. Fry slices of bread in
butter, and place them at the bottom of the dish, pour-
ing the potage over them ; then serve.

Hampshire method of Cooking Tapes——Wash the
shells, then boil them for a few minutes, till the water is
just on the eve of boiling over. If boiled with cockles,
the “ butterfish ” must be placed in the saucepan a few
seconds before the cockles. They are also very good
eaten raw, like oysters.

VeENus verrucosa, Linneus. Warty Venus.—Shell
opaque, very solid, inequilateral, covered with concen-
tric edges which bend backwards, and towards the sides
or ends become coarser, forming knots or tubercles.
These ridges are divided by fine ribs or furrows, which
radiate from the beaks, giving them a scalloped appear- _
ance. Umbones prominent, the beaks small and sharp,
the lunule distinct and heart-shaped. Ligament rather
long and narrow. Three teeth in each valve; the mar-
gins crenulated inside. Colour pale yellowish-brown.

This coarse, rough-looking shell is found on many
parts of the coast of the English Channel, also in the
Channel Islands, and in Ireland.

Mr. Hanley states that at Herm, near Guernsey, it is
collected as an article of food from the small pools be-
tween the rocks at low water ;* and Mr. Jeffreys says

* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Mollusca, vol. i. p. 404.

VENERIDEH.—PULLET. 149

that it is habitually eaten in County Clare, and that
Weinkauff mentions its being sold in the market at
Algiers.*

It is a common species on the south coast of Ireland,
and Mr. Damon, of Weymouth, on visiting Kenmare,
found that, owing to the great consumption of Venus
verrucosa for food, the species was nearly exhausted. It
is dug out of a sandbank at low spring tides, at Bantry.
Dr. Paul Fischer observes that they are endeavouring to
cultivate it on the coast of Provence, and that it ought
to thrive well at Arcachon, as it is indigenous there.

The beautiful Venus Chione, or Cytherea Chione, may
also be included in our list of ‘ edible mollusks,” though
it is not sufficiently abundant to form any more than a
rare and dainty dish with us, while, in the Mediter-
ranean, it is a common species.

Poli, in his magnificent work, the ‘ Testacea utriusque
Siciliz’ (to which more modern writers are so deeply
indebted for their anatomical description of molluscous
animals), mentioning this fish, under the names of
Venus Chione and Callista coccinea, says it 1s most ex-
cellent, and that, though cooked iu various ways (com-
mon to different shellfish), it 1s most delicious when
simply cooked in oil or butter, with breadcrumbs,
chopped parsley, and pepper and salt.

I was so fortunate as to procure a dozen beautiful
specimens from Plymouth, the largest measuring 23
inches in length and 34 in breadth. The colour is a
pinkish- brown, with rays of a darker shade; the epi-
dermis is of a pale horn-colour, and transparent, show-
ing the rays of the shell through, and is very glossy.
The shell itself is solid and opaque. Specimens sent to

* Brit. Conch. vol. i. p. 341.

150 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

me from the Mediterranean are the same as those found
on our coasts, both as to size and colouring, but this is
not the case with some of our other bivalves,—the Jso-
cardia cor, for instance, attaining to a larger size with
us than it does in the south of Europe.

Messrs. Forbes and Hanley give the following loca-
lities for Cytherea Chione :—Plymouth, Teignmouth,
Mount’s Bay (Jeffreys), and other parts of the coast of
Cornwail,

To Cook Venus verrucosa.—Boil them, after first
washing the shells well to free them from sand and mud,
then fry them for a few minutes in a frying-pan, with a
little butter or lard, adding pepper and salt according to
taste.

Fam. TELLINID©.
PSAMMOBIA.

PsAMMOBIA VESPERTINA, Chemnitz. The Setting
Sun.—Shell of an oblong oval shape, equivalve, rather
flattened, opaque ; colour whitish, shading to a reddish-
yellow at the beaks, with radiating rays of carmine and
purplish-pink ; epidermis of an olivaceous brown; liga-
ment external, prominent, and of a horn-colour; beaks
small; teeth, two in each valve; in the left valve, one
tooth bifid.

The Tellinide are but rarely used for food in this
country, though several kinds are used for that purpose
abroad. With us, the Psammobia vespertina is stated
by Mr. Jeffreys* to be eaten by the peasantry at Ken-
mare, and heaps of their shells may be seen round the
huts.

* ‘British Conchology,’ vol. ii. p. 400.

TELLINIDA. }51

Mr. Damon informed me that this pretty shell is
dredged during the summer months in Bantry Bay, all
the boats being then engaged in dredging sand and its
contents, for the farmers, who use it as manure; and
that out of the heaps of sand, etc., formed on the quay,
the Psammobia and other shells are collected. It is only
a locally abundant species, but is generally diffused.
Large richly-coloured specimens are found in Birterbury
Bay, Connemara, and Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, North-
umberland, Pembrokeshire, Firth of Forth, and the
Channel Isles, are a few of the localities given by Mr.
Jeffreys.

Athenzeus* states that Tellinidee were very common at
Canopus, and abound when the Nile begins to rise, and
that the thinnest of these were the royal ones, which
were digestible and light. For fish-sauces, both the
Psammobia and the Donax, or Wedge-shell (which be-
longs to the Tellinide also), might be substituted instead
of cockles; and, indeed, a species of the latter, which
with us is very rare, viz. Donax trunculus, is sold in the
markets at Naples, and is said by Poli to be one of the
best kinds of shellfish, both for making sauce and for
seasoning small rolls of bread. Mr. Jeffreys adds that,
according to Philippi, it is still esteemed a delicacy in
the south of Italy, and in Sicily is called cozzola.

It is also much eaten in Spain, and at Malaga is very
common, and is cooked with rice.

On the French coast the Donax is very abundant,
and is eaten by the poor people, but always cooked. In
German it is called stumpfmuschel.

Spanish method of Making Fish Sauce.—Scald the
fish in boiling water, sufficiently to make the shells

* Athen. Deipn. vol. i. bk. iii. c. 40.

152 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

open; but do not let them be heated more than neces-
sary. Clean them nicely, and then mix them with a
white sauce. To give a piquant flavour, add a little
lemon-juice or vinegar.

Spanish way of Cooking all kinds of Shellfish.—Chop
up a good quantity of garlic, onions, parsley, and red
peppers (which last must be prepared by throwing them
into boiling water, and rubbing off the skins with a dry
cloth) ; scald the fish, and pick them out of their shells,
then put all together in an olla (or round earthen-pot),
with plenty of oil; fry them till a deep yellow. They
may either be served thus, or when finished add some
broth, boil it up, and serve it like thick soup.

The genuine Cadiz lovers of shellfish, however, con-
sider that scalding the fish spoils it; they therefore
prefer the raw fish being put at once into the oil and
vegetables, and the dish is then sent to table with the
shells in it.

Fam. MACTRID.
4 ACTRA.—TROUGH-SHELL.

Mactra souipa, Linneus. Trough Shell. — Shell
thick and opaque, of a yellowish-white colour, nearly
equal-valved, covered at the sides with a brownish or
drab-coloured epidermis; nearly triangular in form;
ligament short and internal; beaks small; a V-shaped
cardinal tooth in one valve, with a long lateral tooth
on each side, and fitting in the opposite valve into deep
grooves, with toothlike edges.

Of the Mactride, both Mactra solida and Mactra
stultorum are sometimes eaten in England, but they are

MACTRID.E.—TROUGH-SHELL. 153

not considered very good, and are full of sand; though
the former is eaten in Devonshire; and Mr. Dennis (as
quoted by Mr. Jeffreys, in his ‘ British Conchology ’)
says that the people of Newhaven, near Brighton, eat
the Mactra stultorum also. It appears that in 1861, the
steam dredging-machines were at work at the mouth of
the harbour, and that they turned up Macira stultorum
in great numbers, so that the beach at high-water mark
was covered by them.* They live buried in the sand not
very far from low-water mark, and at no great depth
from the surface. In Holland the shells of Macira stul-
torum are used for making roads and footpaths ; they
are also burnt for lime, and the fish is eaten there. Ac-
cording to Poli, it is known in Italy by the name of
mezzana, and at Naples, gongola. In German, Mac-
tre are called trogmuscheln. Our rare Macira glauca,
or helvacea, which is a much larger shell than either of
the other kinds above-mentioned, and is at least three
inches long by four broad, with longitudinal rays of a
pale fawn, or a drab, colour, resembling slightly Mactra
stultorum, is sold in the market at Brest; and at Gran-
ville is known by the name of schias. It is also found
at Naples, and Poli speaks with evident satisfaction of
its sweet and excellent flavour. It is taken in the
Channel Islands, but we seldom find more than single
valves upon our coast. Mr. King, of 190, Portland
Road, sent me a magnificent specimen alive, some time
since, which enabled me to examine the fish, and admire
the beautiful colouring of its two short thick tubes, of a
pale-yellow, shading to a rich orange; round the orifices
were dark streaks of crimson, the cirri of the same
colour as the tubes. The animal, however, varies in
* * British Conchology,’ vol. il. p. 424.

154 EDIBLE ERITISH MOLLUSKS.

colour; and another live specimen I received afterwards
was not so bright.

Mactra subtruncata, or the lady-cockle, as it is called
at Belfast, is said by Mr. Alder to be gathered at Lam-
lash Bay, and used as food for pigs, and in ‘some parts it
is used as bait by fishermen.

One other species of Mactra may be mentioned as
edible, as it is eaten in the Channel Islands, and also in
Spain, viz. Lutraria elliptica, very unlike the Mactride in
appearance, and not tempting to look at. It is a broad
flattish shell, about five inches long, and three in height,
with a long tube, something resembling Mya arenaria.
It lives in muddy estuaries, and at the mouths of
rivers, buried to the depth of one and a half to two feet;
and I have had some fine specimens from the mouth of
the Towy, in Carmarthenshire.

Mr. Dennis* says the Lutrarie are called clumps at
Herm, and I am told by Mr. Morton, that the fishermen
in Jersey know them by the name of horse-shoes. In
cooking them, they are first boiled, then taken out of
their shells and fried. Lutraria oblonga, which is a com-
mon species in some of the little muddy estuaries near
Croisic and Piriac, on the coast of the Loire Inférieure,
is said by M. Cailliaud to be very generally eaten, but
it is a rare species with us, though it has been taken on
the Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset coasts. Mactre are
also found in great quantities buried in the sandbanks
on the coast of Chili.

“ To Dress Mactride.—Boil them, and then eat them
with pepper, salt, and vinegar.”

* ‘British Conchology,’ vol. ii. p. 430.

155

Fam. MYAD/#.
MYA.—GAPER.

Mya truncata, Linneus. Gaper or Truncated Mya.
—Shell equal-valved, suboval, gaping much at the small
end, truncated and swollen at the other, covered with a
pale greenish epidermis, which also continues over its
long broad tube and mantles; valves wrinkled trans-
versely ; beaks depressed ; umbones prominent, but un-
equal; a large spoon-shaped tooth in left valve, with a
socket or hollow in the other ; hgament internal.

Of the three species of Myade which inhabit our
British seas, two of them are used for food, viz. Mya
truncata (the one figured) and Mya arenaria, which
last is much eaten at Naples. At Belfast this shell is
called “‘ cockle brillion,”’* evidently the same name as
that applied in Brittany to the winkle, viz. vrélin or
brélin. They jive buried in the sand or mud, in an
upright position, at the mouths of rivers and estua-
ries near low-water mark, and at low tide their lo-
cality is known by the holes in the surface. It re-
quires much labour and patient digging, sometimes to
the depth of more than a foot, to procure a dish of
these esculents, therefore they are not so common an
article of food as others which are more easily gathered.
In Orkney, Mya truncata is called kunyu, and is not
only eaten, but is used as bait for cod-fishing. The
Zetlanders call it smurslin, the Feroese, smirslingur.
They eat it boiled. Jn German it is the klaf/muschel.
On some parts of the Devonshire coast it is known as
the spoon-shell, probably owing to the wide spoon-shaped
tooth in the left valve. The length of a full-grown spe-

* Jeffreys, Brit. Conch. vol. iii. p. 65.

156 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

cimen is about 3 inches, by 24 in breadth. Mya arenaria
is larger than M. truncata, longer and more pvinted at
the gaping end, equaily coarse and rugged in appearance,
its colour varying according to the nature of the soil in
which it buries itself. Montagu states that this species
is eaten at Southampton, and called “old maid ;”’*
but upon making inquiry there I cannot discover that
they are now known by that name. In Chichester har-
bour and in Fareham Creek the poorer classes collect
them for eating, and call them “pullers.” At Youghal
the name for them is “sugar-loons,” and in Dublin
“colliers,’ and at both places they are considered good
bait, and fit to eat; but at Youghal they warn you to
be careful to take off the skin which covers the outside
of the shell and tube, as it is supposed to be poisonous.
However, it is probably harmless, except in cases where
it causes indigestion ; but I believe that Mya arenaria
has been known really to disagree with some people, and
Miss Ball mentions a friend being very uncomfortable
after eating one. The Hampshire people do not seem
to have noticed this peculiarity. I cannot let this op-
portunity pass without expressing my sincere thanks to
Miss Ball, for much valuable information, which she
kindly sent to me from Ireland, respecting the various
edible mollusks.

Mya arenaria (Mye des sables) may occasionally be
seen exposed for sale in the market at Bordeaux.

Myade are widely distributed, and are not only food
for man, but for the walrus and other northern animals,
besides birds and fishes, which relish them greatly. Cap-
tain Tuckey, in his expedition to the river Zaire, or
Congo, found that a species of Mya was much sought

* Forbes and Hanley, ‘ British Mollusca.’

PHOLADIDA.—PIDDOCK. 157

after by the natives, and that three or four hundred
canoes were met with near Draper’s Islands, in which
the people were busily engaged in dragging up these
shellfish ; having made temporary huts by bending and
entwining living branches of trees, besides occupying
caverns in the rocks with their farnilies during the fishing
season. The shells were opened, and the fish having
been taken out was dried in the sun.

“ Youghal way of Cooking Sugar-loons.—Boil them ;
take them out of the shell, and eat them with a little
butter, taking care to cut off the outside skin.”’*

Hampshire Method of Cooking Myade.—Wash the
shells well, then boil quickly for a few minutes ; as soon
as the shell opens, the fish is cooked. Do not them
boil longer, as it makes them hard, and spoils the fla-
vour. A little vinegar and pepper can be added as a
relish.

Fam. PHOLADID/®.
PHOLAS.—PIDDOCK.

Puotas pactyLus, Linneus. Piddock.—Shell equi-
valve, oblong-ovate, gaping chiefly anteriorly, inequila-
teral, thick, white exteriorly and inside polished ; exterior
covered with longitudinal furrows and concentric strie,
with sharp radiating spines; no hinge; beaks hidden
with callosities; a flattened spoon-shaped tooth, which
curves forward, in each valve; accessory valves four in
number.

The perforating powers of the Pholas have for a length
of time been a subject of discussion amongst naturalists,

* Miss Ball.

158 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

and appear likely to continue so. Some thought that
by means of its foot it perforated the soft clay or stone
which hardened round it; and a Dutch philosopher
named Sellius, nearly 130 years ago, published an ac-
count of the Teredo, wherein he showed that its shell
could not be the instrument of perforation; and asked
how it was possible that the extremely tender shell of
the young Teredo could make a hole in solid oak—a
material ten times harder than itself. He also observed
that the form of the tube is evidently not the result of
an auger-like instrument, because it is broader at the
bottom than at the top and sides.

Mr. Jeffreys, who quotes the above in his ‘ British
Conchology,’ agrees with Sellius that the foot or mus-
cular disk and not the shell is “the sole instrument of
perforation by the mollusca of stone, wood, and other
substances, which is closely applied to the concave end
of the hole, and is constantly supplied with moisture
through the glandular tissues of the body.” He adds,
“ By this simple, yet gradual process, the fibres of wood
or grains of sand-stone may easily be detached or disin-
tegrated, time and patience being allowed for the opera-
tion.”” Some naturalists believe that it is accomplished
by means of an acid contained in the fish, by which it
dissolves the calcareous rocks; while others maintain
that the Pholas bores by using its shell as a rasp. This
mechanical process is fully described by “ Astur,” who,
from his own observations, has endeavoured to solve the
problem, and who, to quote Mr. Buckland’s words, is
apparently the only person “ who has ever seen the
Pholas at work.” In the ‘ Field, ‘‘ Astur” published
some time since an interesting description of the me-
thod by which this mollusk bores its habitation. He

PHOLADIDE.—PIDDOCK. 159

says, “ Having procured several of these mollusks in
pieces of timber, I extracted one and placed it loose
in my aquarium, in the vague hope that it would per-
forate some sandstone on which I placed it. It pos-
sessed the powers of locomotion, but made no attempt
to bore. I then cut a piece of wood from the timber in
which it had been found, and placed the Pholas ina
hole a little more than an inch deep. Its shell being
about two inches long, this arrangement left about an
inch and three-quarters exposed. After a short time,
the animal attached its foot to the bottom of the hole,
and commenced swaying itself from side to side, until
the hole was sufficiently deep to allow it to proceed in
the following manner. It inflated itself with water ap-
parently to its fullest extent, raising its shell upwards
from the hole; then, holding by its muscular foot, it
drew its shell gradually downwards. This would have
produced a perpendicular and very ine‘ficient action, but
for a wise provision of nature. The edges of the valves
are not joined close together, but are connected by a
membrane; and, instead of being joined at the hinge,
like ordinary bivalves, they possess an extra plate
attached to each valve of the shell, which is necessary
for the following part of the operation. In the action
of boring, this mollusk, having expanded itself with
water, draws down its shell within the hole, gradually
closing the lower anterior edges, until they almost touch.
It then raises its shell upwards, gradually opening the
lower anterior edges and closing the upper, thus boring
both upwards and downwards. The spines (points) on
the shells are placed in rows, like the teeth of a saw;
those toward the lower part being sharp and pointed,
whilst those above, being uscless, are not renewed. So

160 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

far for the operation of boring; but how to account for
the holes fitting the shape of the animal inhabiting
them? ‘To this I fearlessly answer, that this is only
the case when the Pholas is found in the rock which
it entered when small. This mollusk evidently bores
merely to protect its fragile shell, and not from any love
of boring ; and in this opinion I am borne out by my
own specimens. The young Pholas, having found a
substance suitable for a habitation, ceases to bore imme-
diately that it has buried its shell below the surface of the
rock, etc. It remains quiescent until its increased
growth requires a renewal of its labours. It thus con-
tinues working deeper and deeper, and, should the sub-
stance fail or decay, it has no alternative but to bore
through, and seek some fresh spot where it may find a
more secure retreat.”

At Amroth, near Tenby, is a submerged forest, the
trees of which are completely perforated by the Pholas ;
and at spring-tides fine specimens may be collected.
Montagu remarks that, whilst it is the general habit of
shipworms (Teredo navalis, or Teredo norvegica) to bore
parallel with the grain, the Pholas perforates the wood
across the grain.*

Mr. J. G. Jeffreys mentions that Redi, in a letter to
his friend Megalotti, describes the Teredo as being not
only eatable, but excelling all shellfish, the oyster not
excepted, in its exquisite flavour. Nardo also praises it,
and wonders why the Venetians, who call it disse del
legno, do not eat it.

The German name for the Pholas is very appropriate,
viz., die bohrmuschel, steinbohrer, or pierce-stone; in

* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Mollusca.
+ Brit. Conch. vol. iii. p. 159.

PHOLADID®.—PIDDOCK. 161

France it is called le dail commun, gite, or pitau ; and in
Spain, folado.

An old fisherman told me that the pudworm, as he
called it, was a very delicate fish; and he had often
noticed on the Hampshire coast, that at low spring-
tides, in the winter, when sharp frosts set in, and when
that part of the shore, where these mollusks bury them-
selves, is left exposed by the tide, they are all killed. He
was in the habit of collecting the Pholas dactylus as bait
for white fish, digging them out of the clay or shale; and
he added that if he kept them a day or so before using
them, they changed colour, and shone like glowworms,
even shone quite brightly in the water, some distance
below the surface, when put on the hooks for bait.

This reminds me of the following quaint lines in Bre-
ton’s ‘ Ourania,’ quoted in Daniel’s ‘ Rural Sports ’—

“The glowworme shining in a frosty night
Is an admirable thing in Shepheard’s sight.
Twentie of these wormes put in a small glasse,
Stopped so close that no issue doe passe,
Hane’d in a Bow-net and suncke to the ground
Of a poole or lake, broad and profound ;

Will take such plentie of excellent fish
As well may furnish an Emperor’s dish.” °

The luminosity of the Pholas after death is referred to
by Pliny, who says, “the onyches shine in the dark like
fire, and in the mouth even while they are eaten ;”*
and, ‘‘that it is the property of the dactylus (a fish so
called from its strong resemblance to the human nail)
to shine brightly in the dark, when all other lights are
removed, and the more moisture it has the brighter is
the light emitted. In the mouth, even while they are

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. c. 51.

162 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

eaten, they give forth their light, and the same, too,
when in the hands: the very drops, in fact, that fall
from them on the ground, or on the clothes, are of the
same luminous nature.’’*

Dr. Coldstream states that ‘‘the phosphorescent light
of this mollusk is given out most strongly by the in-
ternal surfaces of the respiratory tubes, and that it is
strongest In summer; and Professor John Miiller has
observed, that when Pholades are placed in a vacuum,
the light disappears, but reappears on the admission of
air; also, that when dried, they recover their luminous
property on being rubbed or moistened.’’t

Many others have also made experiments with the
Pholas, and have studied its phosphorescence, viz. Réau-
mur, Beccaria, Marsilius, Galeatus, and Montius. The
two first mentioned endeavoured to render this ‘‘lumi-
nosity permanent, and the best result was obtained by
placing the dead mollusk in honey, by which its pro-
perty of emitting light lasted more than ayear. When-
ever it was plunged into warm water, the body of the
Pholas gave as much hght as ever.”’}

Beccaria also found that a single Pholas rendered
“seven ounces of milk so luminous that the faces of
persons might be distinguished by it, and it looked as if
transparent.’’§

Pholas dactylus, or the long oyster, as it is called at
Weymouth, is not often eaten in England, but is gene-
rally used for bait. A Newhaven fisherman, however,
told me they sometimes collect some for eating from

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. c. 87.

+ Forbes and Hanley, vol. i. p. 107.

+ ‘Phosphorescence,’ by T. L. Phipson, Ph.D., F.C.S., p. 105.
§ Ibid. p. 104.

SEPIADE.—CUTTLE. 163

the chalk boulders, etc., between Newhaven and Brighton;
that they were much more pleasant to the taste than
whelks; and they only scald or boil them for a few
minutes.

In France, in the neighbourhood of Dieppe, a great
many women and children, each provided with an iron
pick, are employed in collecting them, either for sale in
the market or for bait.*

I find from Mr. Morton that they are plentiful in
Jersey, and are sold in the market boiled ready for eating.
In Spain, the Pholas is considered as next best to oysters,
and is sometimes eaten raw. All the Pholades are
edible, and a large West Indian species, Pholas costata,
is much prized, and is regularly sold in the markets of
Havanna, as we are informed by Forbes and Hanley.

Atheneeus recommends these shellfish, as they are
very nutritious, but he adds that they have a disagree-
able smell.+

The Normandy method of cooking the Pholas (le dail
commun) is to dress them with herbs and breadcrumbs,
or pickle them with vinegar.

Large quantities of this fish are sold in the markets
of La Rochelle, and Captain Bedford says that. the
Pholas crispata is eaten by the poor of Oban.§

Fam. SEPIAD.
SHPIA.—CUTTLE.

SEPIA OFFICINALIS, Linneus. Common Cuttle-fish or

* Jeffreys’ Brit. Conch. vol. iii. p. 102.

+ Deipnosophists, vol. i. bk. iii. e. 35, p. 146.
t ‘ Cottage Gardener,’ vol. i. p. 382.

§ Jeffreys’ Brit. Conch. vol. iii. p. 114.

©

M

164 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLIJUSKS.

Scuttle—The common cuttle-fish, la séche, seiche, or cas-
seron, of the French, is very generally eaten by our fisher-
men, and at Great Yarmouth they bring them in baskets
to the houses for sale, reconimending them as excellent
and wholesome food. Cuttle-fish are often taken on the
fishing lines, and will follow the bait to the surface,
sucking it and holding fast by their long tentacles,* but
we seldom find them alive on the shore, though their
white Jones are constantly picked up; and an immense
number of these Jones sometimes strew the beach from
Beachy Head to Pevensey, while numbers float on the
water. ‘lhis was particularly the case there some years
ago. It seemed as if there had been some epidemic
amongst the cuttles which caused this great mortality,
for certainly many basketfuls of bones might easily have
been collected. They are not without their use; and at
Liverpool, cuttle-bones are sold to the druggists for
making tooth-powder, as much as 12 ewt. arriving at a
time ;+ and Pliny says that the ashes of calcined shells
of the Sepia were used for extracting pointed weapons
which had pierced the flesh.

In Germany, it is called the Blackfisch, or Tintenfisch.

The animal is curious, very flat, with white stripes
across its body, the groundwork being dark brown.
The head is brown, as well as the arms, but the inside
of the latter is white, and is furnished with four rows of
suckers. Its two tentacular arms are very long, ex-
panded broadly at the tips, and are also furnished with
suckers. The beak is hard and black, shaped like that
of a parrot.

* ‘Sea Fish,’ etc., by W. B. Lord.
+ Phipson’s ‘ Utilization of Minute Life.’
t Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. vi. bk. xxxii. c. 43.

SEPIADE.—CUTTLE. 165

Cuttle-fishes are very common in the Mediterranean,
and are highly prized by the Neapolitans. The modern
Greeks also make them, and especially the Octopodia, a
principal article of food; they dry them in great quan-
tities, and store them away for use to be boiled or fried.
Several kinds of Cephalopoda are eaten abroad. The
Octopus vulgaris is eaten when young and small at Nice,
where it is much more plentiful in the market than at
Genoa; and if it weighs less than a pound, and is still
tender, it is much esteemed. Those who purchase it
generally hammer it well with a stick before cooking it ;
and it is also stated that the Greeks are careful to drag
it for some time upon a stone, holding it by the opening
in the body. ‘The flesh is said to have a peculiar taste,
consequently that of the cuttlefish and calamar (/oligo)
is preferred. At Naples, shellfish merchants of Sta.
Lucia sell them ready cooked.*

These Octopods, called Octopodia by the modern
Greeks, are regularly exposed for sale in the markets of
Smyrna; as they are in the bazaars of India; and the
North American Indians are also partial to them.

Plato, the comic writer, says :—

** Good-sized polypus in season
Should be boiled,—to roast them’s treason,

But if early, aud not big,
Roast them; boil’d ain’t worth a fig.” +

M. Verany gives the following description of 1t:—
“The common Poiilp [the polpo of the Italians] is
scattered throughout the Mediterranean, and is found
on the coast of the Atlantic at the Canaries. Ac-
cording to facts collected by M. D’Orbigny, it has

* See notes, ‘ Life in Normandy,’ vol. i. .
~ Athenzus, Deipnosophists, vol. i. bk. i. c. 8, p. 8.

166 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

been found at Hayti, Cuba, Bahia, the Isle of France,
the East Indies, and in the Red Sea. ... This Ce-
phalopod lives almost always amongst rocks, and
generally hides itself in the holes and crevices, into
which it penetrates with great ease, its body being
very supple and elastic. It is in these recesses that
he hes watching for the animals on which he lives; as
soon as he perceives them, he cautiously leaves his
den, darts ike an arrow on his victim, which he wraps
himself about, clasps in his serpent-like arms, and fixes,
by means of his suckers. . . . Sometimes he places him-
self upon sandy ground at a short distance from the
rocks, and is careful to construct a hiding-place. For
this purpose he brings together, in the form of a circle,
a quantity of pebbles, which he carries by fixing them
on his arms by means of his suckers. Then, having
formed a sort of crater, he ensconces himself in it,
aud there waits patiently for some fish or crab to
pass, which he skilfully seizes.” “The young Poiilps
in summer come to the pebbly shores, and they are
sometimes met with in muddy places, from which
they are taken by the trawl, together with numbers of
Eledon (Eledone cirrhosus). They are usually fished
for with a line without a hook, instead of which is sub-
stituted a piece of dog-fish, a bit of cuttle-fish, a white
fish, a bone, a piece of suet, or some attractive sub-
stance weighted with a small stone. ... They are also
caught with a small olive-branch, fixed at the end of a
rod, fitted with a hook, which is drawn backwards and
forwards before the openings of the holes and crevices
of the rocks.”

M. Verany further states that the fishermen catch the
large ones with the Jeis¢er, or trident, and in summer the

SEPIADA.—CUTTLE. 167

young Poiilps are caught with a line weighted with lead,
furnished with a cork fitted with several hooks, covered
with pieces of scarlet cloth, twisted into thongs. He
adds, that the largest Poulp he ever saw was about three
yards long, and weighed nearly half a hundredweight.
Poiilps of thirty pounds weight are not rare at Nice, and
those of twenty pounds are common.* In the Poly-
nesian islands, the natives have a curious contrivance for
catching cuttle-fish. It consists of a straight piece of hard
wood,a foot long, round and polished, and not half an inch
in diameter. Near one end of it, a number of beautiful
pieces of the cowrie, or tiger-shell, are fastened one over
another, like the scales of a fish, until it is nearly the
size of a turkey’s egg, and resembles the cowrie. It is
suspended in a horizontal position by a strong line, and
lowered by the fisherman from a small canoe, till it
nearly reaches the bottom. The fisherman jerks the
line to cause the shell to move, as if it were alive, and
the jerking motion is called tootoofe, the name of the
contrivance. The cuttle-fish, attracted by the cowries,
darts out one of its arms, and then another, and so on,
until it is quite fastened among the openings between
the pieces of the cowrie, when it is drawn up into the
canoe and secured.

Octopus vulgaris is rare on the British coast. I re-
collect that, about fifteen or sixteen years ago, one was
found on the shore at Beachy Head, by two fishermen,
who put it into a large bucket or tub, and took it round
to most of the houses at Eastbourne for exhibition ; and
Mr. Gosse found one in 1860 on the beach at Babbi-
combe. Dr. Spence, of Lerwick, in 1862, sent an ac-
count to Dr. Allman, Professor of Natural History at

* See notes in ‘ Life in Normandy,’ vol. i. pp. 293, 298.—D.D.

168 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Edinburgh, of a huge cuttle-fish, which was thrown on
shore somewhere on the Shetiand Isles, its body measur-
ing nine feet, and its arms sixteen feet in length.* Very
large specimens are found in the Pacific, and also in the
Indian seas, and the latter are said to seize canoes, and
drag them down; and woe betide the unfortunate bather
should he happen to be taken in the grasp of one of
these monsters; and on the authority of Sir Grenville
Temple, in Beale’s ‘ History of the Sperm Whale,’ an
anecdote is given, showing what happened in the Medi-
terranean to a Sardinian captain, who was bathing at
Jerbeh. He felt one of his feet in the grasp of one of
one of these animals, and tried with his other foot to
disengage himself, but his hmb was immediately seized
by another of the monster’s arms. He then endeavoured
with his hands to free himself, but these also i: succes-
sion were firmly grasped by the polypus, and the poor
man was shortly found drowned, with all his limbs firmly
bound together by the twining arms of the fish ; and it is
extraordinary, that where this happened, the water was
scarcely four feet deep. Frédol, in ‘ Le Monde de la Mer,’
states that the famous diver Piscinola, who at the desire
of the Emperor Frederick LI., dived in the Straits of
Messina, saw, with much alarm, enormous poiilps at-
tached to the rocks, their arms several yards long, quite
capable of destroying a man.

Pliny gives a description+ of the dangerous powers of
the polypus for destroying a human being in the water;
embracing his body, it counteracts his struggles, and
draws him under with its feelers, and its numerous
suckers. It is said that the fishermen at the present

* ‘Life in Normandy,’ notes.—D.D.
+ Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. chap. 48, and note.

SEPIADE.—CUTTLE. 169

day, on the coast of Normandy, state that the polypus,
which they call chairou, is a most formidable enemy to
swimmers and divers, for when it has embraced any of
the limbs with its tentacles, it adheres with such tena-
city, that it is quite impossible for a person to disengage
himself, or to move any of his limbs.

A friend told me, that on his voyage to Ceylon, many
years ago, he used to beguile the time by fishing, and
once he caught a huge cephalopod. When it was hauled
on board, it stuck and clung with such tenacity to the
deck and ropes, that it could not be pulled off, and was
at last cut to pieces with a hatchet.

M. Flourens communicated to the French Academy
an account of an enormous specimen which was seen by
Lieutenant Bouger, forty leagues north of Teneriffe. It
appeared to be about twelve to fifteen metres in length
(from thirty-one to forty-six feet), its body of a reddish
colour, and shaped like a horn. The widest part was
about two yards in diameter. M. Moquin-Tandon ob-
serves that the fishermen of the Canaries often met with
these huge monsters, exceeding one or even two yards
in length, but they were afraid to attack them.*

A sailor who had seen some very large ones at Ber-/
muda, and had heard of people being attacked by them
whilst bathing, told me that he had ever after felt shy of
bathing in the sea, and that even the thoughts of them
mace him shudder.

The Norwegian Kraken, Kraxen, or Krabben, was
held to belong to the Cephalopods, and old Eric Pont-
oppidan, a Norwegian bishop, describes it as “ an animal,
the largest in creation, whose body rises above the
surface of the water like a mountain, and its arms like

* ‘Intellectual Observer,’ vol. i. pp. 82-83.

170 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

the masts of ships;”’ and he adds, that a whole regiment
of soldiers could easily go through their manceuvres on
its back. The Bishop of Nidros is said to have dis-
covered one of these gigantic krakens asleep in the sun,
and believing 1¢ to be a large rock, raised an altar on its
surface, and celebrated Mass. The kraken remained
stationary during the ceremony, but the bishop had
scarcely regained the shore, before the monster re-
plunged into the deep.*

The Hydra of Lerna, destroyed by Hercules, was
most certainly a polypus, or sepia, and, in at least one of
the early representations of the subject, the animal is
most correctly drawn as a cuttle-fish or polypus. Mont-
faucon represents the hydra as ‘a monster with several
heads—some seven, others nine, and others fifty, but
that it was not a dragon is evident, not only from the
waves which are at its feet, but also from the form and
capaciousness of its breast, and whole body ; and, again,
its connection with the ocean can be traced, in the crab
being sent to its assistance by Juno, to bite Hercules in
the heel, and when he crushed it, he overcame the Hydra.

Pliny mentions several kinds of polypi, one which he
especially calls the land poalypus, and states that it is
larger than that of the sea; and Hardouin says it is the
species found on the seashore, which more frequently
comes on dry land than the other kinds.+

The polypus is recommended by Pliny for arresting
hemorrhage,—it is bruised and then applied; and he
further adds, concerning it, that of itself it emits a sort
of brine, and therefore needs none to be used when it is
cooked ; that it should be sliced with a reed, as it is”

* Frédol, ‘Le Monde de la Mer,’ p. 310.
+ Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. c. 46; see note.

SEPIADE.—CUTTLE. rE

spoilt if an iron knife is used, “‘ becoming tainted thereby,
owing to the antipathy which naturally exists between
it and iron;’ and* Dalechamps suggests, that this
means, ‘‘it being the nature of its flesh to cling to the
knife.”

The flesh of the loligo, or squid, was highly esteemed
by the ancients, and Ephippus recommends the eating
of squids and cuttle-fish together.

** And many polypi, with wondrous curls.”

Athen., Deipnosophists.

And Sotades, the comic poet, introduces a cook, speak-
ing as follows :—
“To these I added cuttlefish and squills ;
A fine dish is the squill when carefully cooked,
But the rich cuttlefish is eaten plain ;

(Though I did stuff them all with a rich forced-meat
Of almost every kind of herb and flower).”

Bk. vii. ec. 41, Athen., Deipnosophists.
They are still exposed for sale in the bazaars and mar-
kets in India.

With us the squid, or squill, as it is sometimes called
at Weymouth, is only used as bait. It is good for catch-
ing conger-eels and whiting-pout, also for cod-fishing ;
but it is also a great enemy to the fisherman, and on the
French coast they say that the calmar, as they call it,
often tears the fish from their hooks during the night,
when they are fishing with lines. The inhabitants of the
Basque provinces esteem cal/mars highly as food, and call
them chipirones, and at Bayonne they are also known by
the same name, as well as by that of cornet or corniche.

In Japan, squids are regularly collected for food, and
Mr. Arthur Adams gives, in the ‘ Zoologist,’ p. 7518, an

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. vi. bk. xxxii. c. 42.

172 EDIBLE BRITISH MCLLUSKS.

interesting account of the squid fishery, off Nisi- Bama,
in the Oki Islands. On nearing the anchorage, on the
19th November, 1859, they were struck by the number
of lights on the water, moving in all directions, and on
inquiry they found that they were from fishing-boats
on the look-out for Jka-surame, or squids. The lights
were produced by kindling ‘“ birch-bark in small kinds
of gratings, with long wooden handles,— machines known
among seafaring men by the name of devils. The flame
of the fires is very clear and vivid; and the devils,
being held over the sides of the boats, attract the
squids.” 'They were a species of Ommastrephes, usually
called by the fishermen the flying-squids, or sea-arrows,
as they swim very rapidly over the surface of the water,
in immense shoals. They were taken “by jigging.”
The “jig” is of iron, and consists of a long shank, sur-
mounted by a circlet of small recurved hooks. These
cuttles are favourite articles of food, both with Japanese
and Chinese, and are carefully dried for the market, and
sold in great quantities. Near Hakodadi, there is, we
are told by Mr. Adams, a small fishing village exclu-
sively devoted to the catching and curing of the squid;
and many hundreds of thousands may be seen daily
drying in the open air, all nicely cleaned ; each kept flat
by means of little bamboo stretchers, and suspended in
regular rows on lines, which are raised on poles about
six feet from the ground. The open spaces, and all the
houses in the village, are filled with these squid-laden
lines. Squids everywhere form a novel kind of screen.

Pliny speaks of the springing loligo, and Trebius
Niger remarks that whenever it is seen darting above
the surface of the water, it portends a change; and
also that they sometimes dart above the surface in such

SEPIADE.— CUTTLE. Ws

vast numbers, as to sink the ships upon which they
fall.*

Another of the Teuthide, which is rare on our coast,
but is common in the Mediterranean, Sepiola Rondeleti,
is eaten at Nice, and is called supieta or sepiata, and is
said to be a very delicate morsel. The Italians call it
calaimaretto and seppietta, and quantities are consumed
at Genoa, and at Leghorn.

Aristotle speaks of the Teuthis, which he says is a
kind of cuttle-fish, but different from the sepia, and has
ink of a pale colour. Alexis talks of cooking them
thus :—

“T took the teuthides, cut off their fins,
Addmg a little fat, I then did sprinkle
Some thin shred herbs o’er all, for seasoning ;”
Bk. vii. ec. 130, Athen., Deipnosophists.
And Antiphanes, in his ‘ Female Fisher,’ says (referring
to the ink) :—
“ Give me some cuttle-fish first. O Hercules,
They’ve dirtied every place with ink ; here take them
And wash them clean.”

According to Pliny, Anaxilaus states that the ink of
the sepia is possessed of such remarkable potency that
if it is put into a lamp, the light will become entirely
changed, and all present will look as black as Ethio-
plans.

The ink of the cuttle, or sepia, is dried, and imported
from China to Liverpool, where it arrives either in cakes,
or ‘is there made into cakes called sepia, which is used in
painting. Dr. Lankester, in his little work on ‘ Animal
Products,’ says that the cuttle-fish is very abundant in
the Mediterranean, aud that the ink-bag is carefully

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. vi. bk. xxxii. c. 6. + Ibid. c. 52.

174 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

extracted, the liquid being poured out to allow of its dry-
ing as quickly as possible. It is then triturated with a
little caustic soda or potash, and afterwards boiled with
caustic lye for half an hour, when it is filtered, and the
caustic liquid is then treated with an acid till it is neu-
tralized. After standing, a precipitate falls, which is col-
lected, washed with water, and finally dried by a gentle
heat. This substance is the dark pigment used by artists
under the name of sepia.

The polypus is the symbol of Messina, and, accord-
ing to Montfaucon, is figured on a medal of that city,
and a man’s head on the reversed side.

In Spain the cuttle-fishes (/oligo ?) “ calamares”’ are
eaten, and are either broiled on a gridiron, or stewed in
red wine in an earthen jar; after which you may broil
them if you like, or serve them in the wine, or stew
them, adding, after they are tender, a little flour, and
the yolk of an egg, well beaten, and this is considered
the most wholesome way of dressing them.

Spanish Method of Stewing Cuttles—Stew them over
a very slow fire in oil or butter, and, before serving, add
alittle water, salt, breadcrumbs, saffron, and a soupcon of
new honey or sugar.

“ Jersey Method of Cooking Cuttle-fish.—Boil them
for ten minutes, then take them out, and the skin will
come off like a glove, leaving the fish like so many sticks
of horseradish. Then boil them for an hour longer ;
take them out and cut them up, and fry them with
onions. Some prefer slices of bacon fried with them,
instead of onions, and served up with milk sauce.’’”*

They are plentiful about October, and large ones are
sold in the market at a penny each.

* Mr. A. Morton.

CIDARID. 175

Italian Recipe-—Fry them in oil. They cook them
thus at a small village on the Riviera, not far from
Savona, and they taste like skate.

In France, Octopus vulgaris is highly prized for bait,
and is also considered very good as food ; and in ‘ Life in
Normandy,’ vol. 1i.,1s the following recipe for cooking
it :—

«A dish of cuttlefish is divided in the centre by a
slice of toast; on one side of the toast is a mass of
cuttle-fish stewed with a white sauce; and on the other
a pile of them beautifully fried, of a clear even colour,
without the slightest appearance of grease. The flour
of haricot-bean, very finely ground, and which is as good
as breadcrumbs, is added.”’

“ Weymouth Recipe for Cooking common Cuttle or
© Scuttle.—Cut off the head and feelers, and take out
the white bone; then boil for a short time till tender,—
generally ten minutes or so will suffice. It is said to
taste like lobster.”’

Alexis, in his ‘ Wicked Woman,’ introduces a cook,
saying :—

“‘ Now these three cuttle-fish I have just bought
For one small drachma; and when I have cut off
Their feelers and their fins, I then shall boil them,
And cutting up the main part of their meat
Into small dice, and rubbing in some salt
(After the guests already are set down),
I then shall put them in the frying-pan,'
And serve up hot towards the end of supper.’”’*

Major Byng Hall mentions the cuttle-fish (Calamares)

as one of the great treats of the natives of Madrid.+

* Athenzus, vol. il. bk. vi. c. 124, tT ‘Queen’s Messenger,’ p. 341.

176

Fam. CIDARID.
ECHINUS.—SEA EGG.

Ecuinus spH®RA, Miller. Common Sea-egg or Sea-
urchin.—A wish has been expressed that I should in-
clude the ‘ sea-egg”” in my ‘ Edible Mollusca,’ but I
scarcely feel justified in doimg so, as it is not a mollusk,
and has no other claim to appear on these pages further
than from its being fit for food.

It belongs to another class of animals, the Radiata or
Echinodermata, which includes the star-fishes and the
Holothuriade. The Radiata are so called because all
their parts radiate from a common centre.

Echinus sphera is generally of a reddish colour, or
purplish, and has white spines, in some tinged with
purple. |

Pliny states that the sea-urchin moves along by roll-
ing like a ball, which is the reason that it 1s so often
found with the prickles rubbed off; also “ that these
creatures foreknow the approach of a storm at sea, and that
they take up little stones with which they cover them-
selves, as a sort of ballast; for they are very unwilling,
by rolling along, to wear away their prickles. As soon as
seafaring persons observe this, they at once moor their
ship with several anchors.”* By Aristotle it is called
the “ migratory fish.” Professor Forbes, in his ‘ History
of British Starfishes,’ observes that “it is with their
spines that the Hchint move themselves, seize their prey,
and bring it to their mouths by turning the rays of their
lower edge in different directions. The mouth is gene-
rally turned to the ground, and the five teeth which
project from it form part of a remarkable dental appa-

* Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. bk. ix. c. 51, p. 427.

CIDARIDEH.—PURPLE EGG-URCHIN. 177

ratus, known by the fanciful appellation of ‘ Aristotle’s
lantern.’ ””*

In heraldry we find, according to Mr. Moule, that the
Echinus is borne, the arms of the Alstowne family being
yules, three sea-urchins in pale argent; and those of
Alstanton, azure, three sea-urchins argent. The shells
of Echinus spherea, the common sea-egg, are often used
for making emery cushions, cases for yard measures,
and other toys.

Pennant mentions sea-eggs being used for food in
many parts of England; and Mrs. Gatty, in ‘ Old Folks
from Home,’ if I remember correctly, states that Echinus
lividus, or ‘‘ purple egg-urchin,” is eaten on the west
coast of Ireland. It is one of the burrowing species,
and lives in holes formed by it in the rocks. Mr. W.
Thompson informed Professor Forbes, that he. had
seen it in abundance in the South Isles of Arran. “It
was always stationary, the hole in which it is found
being cup-like, yet fitting so as not to impede the spines.
Every one lived in a hole fitted to its own size, the little
ones in little holes, and the large ones in large holes;
and their purple spines and regular forms presented a
most beautiful appearance, studding the bottoms of the
grey limestone rocks’ pools.” +

At the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, I
have seen specimens of this Hchinus in a block of sand-
stone from the Baie de Douarnenez, in Finisterre ; also,
specimens of Hchinus perforans in granite rock from
the Bay of Croisic. How these animals bore into such
hard substances is still a question; it is supposed by
some that they first perforate with their teeth, and
then soften the rocks by some secreted solvent. t

* Forbes’s ‘ British Star-fishes, p.154. .Ib.p.170. {+ Ib. p.171.
N

178 _ EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

A friend of mine, who examined some of the holes,
observes that they are evidently formed by the animal,
and are lined with a smooth yellow substance which it
deposits on the stone; that in limestone rocks the de-
posit is probably obtained from the stone itself by means
of a solvent, but that in granite it may be derived from
the lime held in solution in the sea water.

Echinus esculentus, the real Oursin comestiéle, is found
in the Mediterranean, and also on the coast of Brittany ;
and I have seen specimens from the roadstead of Brest.
Mr. R. Jones (as quoted by the Rev. J. Wood in his
‘Natural History, p. 722) gives a most amusing descrip-
tion of sea-egg fishing in the Bay of Naples, saying, “I
had not swum very far from the beach before I found
myself surrounded by some fifty or sixty human heads,
the bodies belonging to which were invisible, and, inter-
spersed among these, perhaps an equal number of pairs
of feet sticking out of the water. As I approached the
spot, the entire scene became sufficiently ludicrous and
bewildering. Down went a head, up came a pair of
heels; down went a pair of heels, up came a head;
and as something like a hundred people were all dili-
gently practising the same wanceuvre, the strange vicis-
situde from heels to head, and head to heels, going on
simultaneously, was rather a puzzling spectacle. On
inquiry, it proved that these divers were engaged in
fishing for sea-urchins, which are especially valuable
just before they deposit their eggs,—the roe, as the
ageregate egg-masses are termed, being large, and in as
much repute as the ‘soft roe’ of the herring.”

The Fuegian women dive to collect sea-eggs, both in
winter and summer; and large sea-eggs are found in
the Bay of Concepcion, which are highly esteemed by the
Chilians, and eaten raw.

CIDARIDE.— SEA-EGGS, 179

Echinide were also eaten by the ancients, and were
said to be tender and full of pleasant juice, but apt to
turn on the stomach ; but they were considered good if
eaten with sharp mead, parsley, and mint.*

Demetrius, the Scepsian, says that “a Lacedzemonian,
once being invited to a banquet, when some sea-urchins
were put before him on the table, took one, not knowing
the proper manner in which it should be eaten, and not
attending to those who were in the company to see how
they ate it; and so he put it in his mouth with the skin
or shell and all, and began to crush the sea-urchin with
his teeth ; and being exceedingly disgusted with what he
was eating, and not perceiving how to get rid of the
taste, he said, ‘Oh, what nasty food! I will not now be
so effeminate as to eject it, but I will never take it
again.’ 7+

A friend of mine once tasted a sea-urchin raw, while
she was travelling in the south of Europe, as it was
highly recommended, and considered quite a delicate
morsel ; but she told me that it was very unpalatable,
and rather bitter, and she had not the courage to swallow
it like the Lacedzemonian.

At Marseilles, baskets are seen in the fish-market
filled with the beautiful green sea-ribbon, Zostera ma-
rina, on which are placed sea-eggs, and generally one is
broken to show the orange-coloured oval mass inside. {

There are four species of Echini eaten, viz. Echinus
melo (Voursin melon), in Corsica and Algeria; Echinus
lividus (Poursin livide), at Naples; Echinus esculentus
(?oursin commun), in Provence; and Echinus granulosus.

* Athenzus, ‘ Deignosophists,’ vol. i. bk. iii. c. 41.
+ Ibid. vol. i. bk. iii. c. 41, p. 152.
{ ‘ Reise-Hrinnerungen aus Spanien,’ von E. A. Rossmissler.

N 2

180 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Echinus esculentus is called in Feroese eyzlkier.

They are usually eaten raw, like oysters, are cut into
four quarters, and the flesh eaten with a spoon.*

To Cook Echini.—Boil them as you would boil eggs,
and eat them with sippets of bread.

Generally considered in season in the autumn. The
sea-egg becomes red like acrab when it is cooked, and is
said to resemble it in flavour.

* ‘Tia Vie et les Meeurs des Animaux,’ par Louis Figuier.

181

LIST OF WORKS

REFERRED TO, OR CONSULTED, IN THE PREPARATION
OF THIS WORK. .

‘A Book for the Seaside.’

Acton, Miss: ‘Modern Cookery.’

Adams, Arthur: “Squid Fishing in Japan,” ‘ Zoologist’ for
1861.

Addison, J.: ‘Remarks on Several Parts of Italy in the
years 1701, 1702, 1703.’ .

Aleock, Sir J. Rutherford : ‘ The Capital of the Tycoon.’

Ansted and Latham: ‘The Channel Islands.’

‘ Archeologia Cambrensis.’

‘Archeological Association, Journal of the,’ vols. i. il. iv.
Xvill. and xx.

‘Atheneum,’ July 20, 1850.

Atheneus: ‘The Deipnosophists, or the Banquet of the
Learned.’ Literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B.A.
Bohn’s Classical Library. 3 vols.

‘Art Journal’: “The Pilgrims of the Middle Ages.’ By
Rey. L. E. Cutts. Vol. for 1861.

‘ Atlas Geographicus,’ vol. 1.

Audot, L. E.: ‘ La Cuisiniére de la Campagne.’

Audot: ‘Dictionnaire Général de la Cuisine Francaise,
ancienne et Moderne.’

182 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Aufrére, Anthony: Travels through various Provinces of
the Kingdom of Naples in 1789 by Charles Ulysses;
translated by.

Baines’s ‘ Explorations in South-West Africa.’

Baird, W., M.D., F.L.S.: ‘Cyclopedia of the Natural
Sciences.’

Baker, Samuel White, M.A., F.R.G.S.: ‘The Albert
N’yanza, Great Basin of the Nile.’ 2 vols.

Barrera, Madame de: ‘ Gems and Jewels.’

Bates, H. W.: ‘ Naturalist on the Amazon.’ 2 vols.

Beckman’s ‘ History of Inventions.’

Beechey’s ‘ Voyage to the Pacific.’ 2 parts.

Beltremieux, Edouard : ‘ Faune du Département de la Cha-
rente-Inférieure.

Blackburn, Henry: ‘ Travelling in Spain in the Present Day.’

Blackwood’s ‘ Edinburgh Magazine, No. 561. July, 1862.

Blower, Ralph: ‘A Rich Storehouse, or Treasurie of the
Diseased.’ 1607.

Bowles, W. L.: ‘ Poetical Works.’ 2 vols.

‘ British Mollusca and their Shells.’ By Messrs. Forbes and
Hanley. 4 vols.

‘British Monachism.’ By Fosbroke.

‘British Topography.’ 2 vols.

Bruce’s Travels. 7 vols.

Burke’s ‘ General Armorie.’

Cailliaud, Frédéric: ‘Catalogue des Radiaires, des Anné-
lides, des Cirrhipédes et des Mollusques marins, terrestres,
et fluviatiles recueillis dans le département de la Loire-
Inférieure.’

Camden’s ‘ Britannia.’

Cantraine, F.: ‘Malacologie Méditerranéenne et lit-
torale.’

Chenu, Dr. J. C.: ‘Manuel de Conchyliologie.’ 2 vols.

‘Chronicos de los Rel. Descalzos de S. Francisco.’ B7
Juan Francisco de San Antonio. 1738.

LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. 183

Colborne, Robert: ‘A Complete English Dispensatory,’ etc.,
1756.

Copley, Esther: ‘ Housekeeper’s Guide.’

‘Cottage Gardener.’ Vol. 1.

Cromwell’s ‘ History of Colchester.’ 2 vols.

Daniel’s ‘ Rural Sports.’ 4 vols.

‘Dictionary of Practical Receipts.’ By G. W. Francis.

‘Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.’ Edited by
Dr. W. Smith.

Earl, G. W.: “On the Shell Mounds of the Malay Penin-
sula.” ‘Intellectual Observer,’ vol. 1.

Ebrard, Dr. : ‘ Des Escargots, au point de vue de l’Alimen-
tation, de la Viticulture, et de l Horticulture.’

Ellis, W.: ‘ Polynesian Researches.’ 2 vols.

Elwes: ‘ W.S.W., a Voyage in that direction to the West
Indies.’

‘English Cookery Book.’

‘Enquire Within upon Everything.’

Evelyn’s ‘Memoirs.’ Edited by W. Brey, Esq.

Fairbairn’s ‘ Crests of Great Britain and Ireland.’ 2 vols.

‘The Feroe Isles.’ By the Rev. G. Landt.

‘Field,’ The.

Figuier, Louis: ‘La Vie et les Mceurs des Animaux, Zoo-
phytes et Mollusques.’

Fischer, Dr. Paul: ‘Faune Conchyliologique marine du
département de la Gironde,’ ete.

Florez: ‘ Medallas de Espana.’

Forbes, E., M.W.S., For. Sec. B.S., etc.: ‘A History of
British Starfishes, and other Animals of the Class

. Echinodermata.’

Forbes, Edward : ‘ Malacologia Monensis.’

Forbes, James, F.B.S.: ‘ Oriental Memoirs.’ 4 vols.

Francatelli’s ‘ Cook’s Guide.’

Frédol, Alfred: ‘ Le Monde de la Mer.’

‘French Family Cook.’

184 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Fuller, Thomas: ‘ Pharmacopeeia Extemporanea.’

‘Galignani’s Messenger.’

Gatty, Mrs.: ‘Old Folks from Home.’

Gell, Sir W.: ‘ Pompeiana.’

Gibbon’s ‘ Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”

Gosse, Philip Henry: ‘A Naturalist’s Rambles on the
Devonshire Coast.’

Gosse, Philip Henry: ‘A Year at the Seashore.’

Gosse, Philip Henry: ‘A Manual of Marine Zoology for
the British Isles.’ 2 parts.

Gosse, Philip Henry: ‘The Aquarium.’

Grey’s ‘ Australia.’ 2 vols.

Gwillim’s ‘ Heraldry.’

Hall: ‘The Queen’s Messenger.’

Harper, John, F'.R.S.: ‘ Glimpses of Ocean Life.’

Harvey, W. H.: ‘Seaside Book.’

Henderson, W.; ‘ Folklore of the Northern Counties of
England.’

Hendrie, Robert: ‘Theophili, qui et Rugerus,’ etc. An
essay upon various arts, etc. In 3 books.

Holeroft’s ‘ Travels of Count Stolberg.’ 2 vols.

Hone, William: ‘ Everyday Book.’ 4 vols.

‘Household Words.’ Vol. iii.

Humphreys, H. Noel: ‘The Coin Collector’s Manual.’
2 vols. Bohn’s Scientific Library.

‘ Tilustrated London News.’

‘Intellectual Observer.’ Vols. 1. ii. i1. and vil.

Jeffreys, John Gwyn, F.R.S., F.G.S. : ‘ British Conchology.’
Vols. i. 11. and in.

Jones, T. R.; ‘The Aquarian Naturalist.’ ,

Keogh, John : ‘ Zoologia Medicinalis Hibernica, or a Treatise
of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, or Insects,’ ete. 1739.

King, Rev. C. W.: ‘ Precious Stones, Gems, and Precious
Metals.’

Kirby’s “ History of Animals,” ete. ‘ Bridgewater Treatise.’

LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. 185

Kirby’s ‘Wonderful Museum.’ Vol. u.

‘Knight’s Encyclopedia.’

‘Land and Water.’

Lankester, Dr.: ‘Of the Uses of Animals, in Relation to
the Industry of Man.’ 2nd course.

Leland’s ‘ Collectanea.’ 6 vols.

Lord, John Keast : ‘The Naturalist in British Columbia.’
Vols. 1. and u.

Lord, W. B.: ‘Sea-fish, and How to Catch them.’

Lubbock, Sir J.: ‘ Prehistoric Times.’ 2 vols.

Lukis, F. C.: “ Cromlech du Tus.”’ ‘Journal of the British
Archeological Association,’ vol. i. 1845-6.

Lukis, F. C.: “On the Sepulchral Character of Cromlechs
in the Channel Islands.’ ‘ Journal of the British Archzo-
logical Association,’ vol. iv. 1848-9.

Lyell, Sir C.: ‘ Antiquity of Man.’

Macgillivray, W.: ‘ Conchologist’s Text Book.’ Corrected
and enlarged by.

M‘Culloch’s ‘ Commercial Dictionary.’

‘Macmillan’s Magazine, No. 36, October, 1862. “The
Fisher Folk of the Scottish East Coast.”

‘ Magazine of pemestie Economy.’

‘ Maitre Jacques.’

“Man Cook,” A. See‘ Field, February 20, 1864.

‘Meddygon Myddvai.’ (Welsh MSS. Society, 1859.)

Miller, Hugh: ‘Sketch Book of Popular Geology.’

Montfaucon, Antiquity explained and represented in Sculp-
tures by the learned Father; translated into English by
David Humphreys, M.A. 4 vols.

Moquin-Tandon, A.: ‘Histoire Naturelle des Mollusques
terrestres et fluviatiles de France.’ 3 vols.

‘Morning Post,’ The.

Moule, Thomas: ‘ Heraldry of Fish,

‘Murray’s Handbook to Kent and Sussex.’

Murray’s ‘ Modern Domestic Cookery.’

186 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS,

“ My Pearl-fishing Expedition.” ‘ Househoid Words,’ vol.iu.

‘Natural History Review; a quarterly journal of Biological
Science.’ No. x., April, 1863.

Neumann’s ‘ Chemisiry.’

Nichols’s ‘ Forty Years in America.’ 2 vols.

Nicolas, Sir N. H.: ‘ History of the Royal Navy.’ 2 vols.

‘Normandy, Life in.’ 2 vols.

‘ Notes and Memoranda,’ “ Gigantic Cephalopod.” Vol. 1.,
‘Intellectual Observer.’

‘ Novara, Voyage of the.’ 2 vols.

‘O’Brien’s Adventures during the late War.’ 2 vols.

‘Old Cookery Book.’

‘Oyster, the; Where, How, and When to Find, Breed
Cook, and Eat it.’

Patterson’s ‘Introduction to Zoology.’

Phipson, Dr. T. L.: ‘The Utilization of Minute Life.’

Phipson, Dr. T. L. : ‘ Phosphorescence.’

Picart, Bernard: ‘Ceremonies and Religious Customs of
the Various Nations.’ 4 vols.

Pliny’s ‘Natural History.’ Translated by the late Jokn
Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H. P. Riley, Esq., B.A. 6
vols. Bohn’s Classical Athenee

Poli: ‘ Testacea Utriusque Siciliz.’ 1795.

Pontoppidan, Erich: ‘ The Natural History of Norway.’

Potter, John: Archzologia Greca, or the Antiquities of
Greece.’ 2 vols.

Prescott, ‘ History of Ferdinand and Isabella.’ Vol. 1.

Quatrefages, A. de: ‘ Rambles of a Naturalist on the Coasts
of France, Spain, and Sicily.’ 2 vols.

Quincy, Dr. John: ‘ Pharmacopeia Officinalis.’

Rawlinson’s Translation of the aes! of Herodotus.
4 vols.

Reeve, Lovell: ‘ British Land and Freshwater Mollusks.’

Reid, Hartlaw: “ Practical Cookery,” ‘ Handy Outlines of
Useful Knowledge.’

LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. 187

Roberts, Mary : ‘ Popular History of Mollusca.’

Robinson, J. C.: Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of
Works of Art, etc., on Loan at the South Kensington
Museum. 1862.

Robinson’s ‘ Essay towards a Natural History of West-
moreland and Cumberland.’ 1709.

Robinson’s ‘ Physical Geography of the Holy Land.’

Rosenhauer, W. von: ‘ Die Thiere Andalusiens.’

Rossmiassler : ‘ Reise-Erinnerungen aus Spanien.’ 2 parts.

Schilling, Samuel: ‘Grundriss der Naturgeschichte des
Thier- Pflanzen- und Mineralreich.’

Scott, Sir Walter: ‘ Marmion.’

‘Shipwrecked Mariner: ‘ Visits to the Seacoasts.’’ Vol.
xil., 1865.

Shirley, Evelyn Philip: ‘ Noble and Gentle Men of Eng-
land.’

Simmonds, Peter Lund, F.R.G.S.: ‘ Curiosities of Food.’

Smith, C. Roach: “ Notes on some Leaden Coffins dis-
covered at Colchester.” ‘Journal of the British Archzo-
logical Association,’ 1846-7. Vol. ii.

Smith, C. Roach: “On Pilgrims’ Signs, and Leaden
Tokens.” Vol. i., ‘Journal of the British Archeological
Association.” 1845-6.

Sowerby’s ‘ Popular British Conchology.’

Sowerby’s ‘ Conchological Manual.’

Soyer, A: ‘Gastronomic Regenerator.’

Soyer’s ‘ Ménagére.’

‘Sporting Gazette,’ December 24, 1864.

Street’s ‘ Gothic Architecture in Spain.’

Strickland, Agnes: ‘The Queens of Scotland, and English
Princesses.’ Vol. vi.

Swainson, W., F.R.S.: ‘A Treatise on Malacology, or the
Natural Classification of Shells and Sheilfish.’

‘Tabella Cibaria: The Bill of Fare, a Latin Poem. Impli-
citly translated,’ etc.

188 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Taylor’s ‘ History of Mankind.’

Tennent, Sir J. E.: ‘ Natural History of Ceylon.’

The ‘ Times,’ passim.

Troschel, Dr. Franz Hermann: ‘ Handbuch der Zoolvugie.’

Tupper, Martin: ‘ Proverbial Philosophy.’

‘ Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle.’ 3 vols. and appen-
dix. King, Fitzroy, and Darwin.

Walsh, J. H.: ‘English Cookery Book.’ |

Warner, The Rev. Richard, of Sway, near Lymington,
Hants: ‘ Antiquitates Culinarie; or Curious Tracts re-
lating to the Culinary Affairs of the Old English,’ ete.

White: ‘ Popwar British Crustacea.’

Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner: ‘ Dalmatia and Montenegro.’
2 vols.

Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner: “ British Remains on Dart-
moor.” ‘Journal of the British Archeological Associa-
tion.’ Vol. xvii. 1862.

Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner: “ Ostrea Virginica, a new
British Oyster, at Tenby.’ See ‘ Zoologist,’ 1865.

Williams, Rev. Charles: ‘Silvershell, or the Adventures of
an Oyster.’

Wilson, Dr. Daniel: ‘ Prehistoric Man.’ .

Wood, Rev. J.: ‘ Natural History.’ 3 vols. (Fishes.)

Woodward: ‘ Manual of the Mollusca.’

Wordsworth’s Poems.

Wright, Thomas: ‘ The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon.’

‘Zoologist, The. 1860, 1861, and 1865. :

189

INDEX.

Abbey seal, with figure of St.
James, or St. Jacques de la
Hovre, 104.

Acclimatization of Ostrea Virginica
on the French coast, 81.

Action for trespass, 48.

African snails mentioned by Pliny,
a

Allouret, or bird net, 45.

Almejas, or Tapes, 145.

Almejas al natural, 146.

Almejas blancas, 145.

Almejas cocidas, 146.

Almejas guisadas, 146.

American Clam acclimatized on
the French coast, 102.

American oyster, Ostrea Virginica,
81.

Amethystine purple produced from
Murex trunculus, 131.

Amount of oysters annually ab-
stracted from the open sea, 73.

Amroth, submerged forest at, 159.

Ancient English cookery, 63.

Ancient Greeks used shells as
trumpets, 127.

Anecdote of Dr. Black and Dr.
Hutton, 18.

Animals adorned with pearls, 56.

Anklets and bracelets of chank
shells, 126.

Annual Colchester oyster feast, 71.

Anodonta cygnea eaten in Leitrim,
62

Anodontz and Unionidee used for
bait, 62.

An other soueraigne Medecine for
a Web in the eye, 4.

Antient cryes of London, 76.

Apicius discovers the art of pre-
serving oysters fresh, 69.

Aplysia hybrida emits a purple
liquid, 132.

Aplysia, large, common at the Cape
de Verde Islands, 132.

Apple or vine snail, Helix poma-
tia, 1.

Aristotle’s description of razor-
shell, 39.

Aristotle and cartilaginous fish, 48.

Aristctle’s Lantern, 176.

Arms of Buckenham Priory, 104.

Articles made of Pinna silk, 141.

Artificial oyster-beds of Great
Britain, 70.

Ashes of calcined shells of Sepia
for extracting weapons from
wounds, 164.

Aspergille, or Helix aspersa, 14.

Athenzus and the Ephesian mus-

sels, 52.
Athenzus recommends roasted
Solens, 40.

Atheneus and the Tellinidee, 150.
Aulo of the Romans, 39. }
Aureille de mer, 113.

Auris marina, 113.

Australian freshwater mussels, 63.
Aviculide, 138.

Awabee or Awabi, 49.

Bags and pockets for mussels made
of old nets, 46.

Bajaina, name for Helix aspersa at
Grasse, 14.

Banarut, or Helix aspersa, 14.

Banded snail, Helix pisana, 2.

Baptismal shells, mentioned in a

190

list of Church ornaments in the
fifteenth century, 112.

Baptismal shells, usually of silver
gilt, but real scallop-shells used
in some churches, 112.

Baptism, in private, a wooden shell
used, 112.

Barrois, escargotiére in, 12.

Baskets-full of razor-shells sold at
Tenby, 41.

Beira, or great scallop (Pecten
maximus), 101.

Belief in the power of the bones
of St. James to work miracles
nearly died out, 111.

Bérizon, or cockle, 27.

Bernicle, 121.

Bigorneau, 135.

Billingsgate Market supplied with
mussels from Holland, etc., 47.

Birds feed on snails, 9.

Bishop Mayhew, 108.

Bisse del legno, 159.

Black cockle, 44.

Blackfish or Tintenfisch, 164.

Bohrmuschel or Steinbohrer, 159.

Bouchots, or artificial mussel beds,
46.

Bouger’s huge cuttle-fish, 169.

Boyl-yas, or native sorcerer, 63.

Brading and its oysters, 73.

Breeding pearls, 30.

Bridge at Bideford, 48.

British localities for Solen margi-
natus, 39.

British oyster valued by the Ro-
mans, 68.

British specimen of Helix aperta,

Brown oyster sauce, 86.

Bruvane, 27.

Bucarde, 27.

Buccinum, used for bait for long-
line fishing, 124.

Buccinum undatum, 123.

Buccinum, or whelk, carved on
font in St. Clement’s Church,
Sandwich, 133.

Buccin ondé, 123.

Buckie, whelk-tingle or

; winkle, 124.

sting-

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Burran Bank oysters, 74.

Burton Bindons, oysters called, 74.
Butterfish, price of, 143.
Butterfish, or Purr, 148.

Byssus of mussels, 48.

Cesar and the pearls of Great
Britain, 55.

Cesar, Julius, prohibits unmarried
women to wear pearls and pur-
ple, 57.

Cesar, Julius, first wore the toga
entirely of purple, 132.

Cagouille, 14.

Calmar, 171.

Calamares eaten in Spain, 174.

Calamaretto, or Seppietta, 173.

Calcined mussel-shells make strong
lime, 49.

Canestrelli di mare, or Pecten
varius, 99.

Caperlongers, 138.

Cappa di San Giacomo, 101.

Cappa Santa, 101.

Cappa tonda, 39.

Caracola, 19.

Caracola del huerta, 19.

Caracola del mar, 19.

Caracola del rio, 19.

Caracoleros, 19.

Caracoles con Perejil, 23.

Caragoou, 14.

Caraguolo, 14.

Cardiade, 27.

Cardium aculeatum found on the
Devonshire coast, 38.

Cardium edule, 27.

Cardium rusticum, 36.

Cardium rusticum or tubercula-
tum, found at Paignton and
Dawlish, 37.

Cardium rusticum, its leaping
powers described by Mr. Gosse,
37.

Carlingford oysters, 74.
Carrickfergus oysters, large size,
74.
Cathedral at Panama, the steeples

faced with pearl oyster shells,
116.
Catherine de Medicis, 58.

INDEX.

Cats made of the shells of Helix
aspersa, 22.

Cawdel of Muskels, 64.

Cephalopoda, 165.

Cephalopods, large, at Bermuda,
169.

Cephalopoda, large, caught on a
voyage to Ceylon, 169.

Ceylon pearl-fishery suffered from
skate destroying the oysters, 61.

Chank shell used by the Bud-
Ahists, 126.

Chank shells exported to India
from Ceylon, 126.

Chank shells reversed, prized by
the Chinese, 126.

Chank fishery, 126.

Charity oysters, 61.

Charron, 45.

Chatrou, 169.

Cheyney, rock-oyster fisheries, 72.

Chilian method of cooking shell-
fish, 67.

Chinese dinner, 136.

Chiocciola, Helix vermiculata, 17.

Chipirones, 171.

Christening of the child of Lady
Cicile, wife of Erle of Friese-
land, 115.

Cidaride, 176.

Cinque-Cento ornaments, 57.

Clams, several species of shells
called, 101.

Clams acclimatized on the French
coast, 102.

Clams strung like dried apples and
smoked for winter use, 102.

Clams salted and preserved, 102.

Cleopatra and the pearl, 56.

Clodius AXsopus gives pearls to

_ his guests to swallow, 56.

Closheens, 99.

Clouvisso, 144.

Clovisse, price of, at Bordeaux, |

144.
Clumps, or horse-shoes, 153.
Cocciola, 39.
Cocciola zigga, 43.
Cochlea, 31.
Cochlear, cochleare, or cochlea-
rium, 31. .

ror

Cockenzie fishermen, 76.

Cockles, 27.

Cockles live in sand, 27.

Cockles boiled in milk, 27.

Cockle brillion, 154.

“Cockle” applied to any shell, 29.

Cockle, or escallop, 29.

Cockles fried, 36.

Cockle-gardens, 28.

Cockle gatherers, dress of, 28.

Cockles, mussels, and oysters found
on the sites of Roman stations,
34.

Cockle pies, 36.

Cockle porridge, Soyer’s, 35.

Cockle, red-nosed, found at Paign-
ton, 37.

Cockle, red-nosed, cooked Paignton
method, 38.

Cockles said to yield a dye, 31.

Cockles sent to London from
Gower, 28.

Cockles at Seville, 36.

Cockle-shells in an old British
camp in Gower, 34.

Cockle-shell figured on coins, 28.

Cockle-shells prized by the Dama-
ras, 28.

Cockle-shell used in heraldry, 28.

Cockle-shells used as leads on fish-
ing nets, 28.

Cockle said to be used for skim-
ming milk, 29.

Cockle sauce, 35.

Cockles scalloped, 35.

Cockled snails, 31.

Cockle soup, Francatelli’s, 34.

Cockle soup, 38.

Cockles stewed in oil at Madrid, 39.

Cockles, to stew, 35.

Coeur-de-beeuf, or Heart-shell, 43.

Cog variously written, viz. kogge,
gogga, kogh, cocka, coqua, etc.,

Cogs, vessels called, 34.

Colchester and its oysters, 71.

Cold weather injurious to the spat
of the oyster, 70.

Colimagon, or Helix aspersa, 14.

Colourists’ shells, 49.

Concha di San Dialogo,.101.

192

Conchyliated colour comprehended
various shades of purple, 130.
Consumption of the Apple or Vine
Snail in Paris, 17.

Consumption of oysters in Ame-
rica, 81.

Contar, 14.

Coque, 27.

Coquilles de St. Jacques, 101.

Cormaillot, or Perceur, 70.

Cornets, or Corniches, 171.

Corvins, or periwinkles, 135.

Cotton wool injurious to pearls, 30.

Coutoye, 41.

Cozza di San Giacomo, 101.

Crab found in Ostrea Virginica,
139.

Crogans, Cornish name for limpet-
shells, 121.

Cromlech, term, 120.

Cromlech du Tus, 120.

Crotalia or castanet pendants, ear-
rings so called, 56.

Cullis of mussels, 67.
Cultivation of oysters on the
western coast of France, 77.
Cup made of staves of turbo shell,
116.

Cups and dishes of pilgrims, 103.

Curried oyster atlets, 87.

Curried oysters, 88.

Cuttle-fish, or scuttle, 163.

Cuttle-fish, description of, 164.

Cuttle bones, 164.

Cuttle bones brought to Liverpool,
164.

Cuttles on the Sussex coast, 164.

Cuttles very large in the Pacific,
168.

Cuttle drowns a Sardinian cap-
tain, 168.

Cuttle-fish eaten-by the modern
Greeks, 165.

Cuttle-fish taken on fishing lines,
164.

Cuttle-fish, Italian recipe for cook-
ing, 175.

Cuttle-fish, Jersey method of cook-
ing, 174.

Cuttles, Spanish method of stew-
ing, 174.

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Cuttles or scuttle, Weymouth re-
cipe for cooking, 175.

Cyprina Islandica, called the clam
in the Shetland Isles, 101.

Cyprinidee, 42.

Cytherea Chione or Venus Chione,
148.

Cytherea Chione, specimens of,
from Plymouth, 148.

Dail, gite or pitau, 161.

Danes in the eighteenth century
eat snails, 12.

Danish Kjékkenméddings, 32.

Danish Kjékkenméddings, oyster-
shells in, 83.

Dartmouth oyster bed, 73.

Decoction of snails, Decoctum
Limacum, 4.

Decoction of snails against con-
sumptions (Decoctum Anti-
phthisicum), 5.

Demoiselles, 16.

Diampa, 121.

Dijon method of keeping snails,
13.

Dijon way of cooking snails, 25.

Discovery of the ashes of St.
James of Compostella, 107.

Distorted and deformed pearl mus-
sel shells often contain pearls,
54.

Dog of Tyrian nymph, 129.

Donax eaten on the French coast,
150.

Donax cooked with rice at Malaga,
150.

Donax, called cozzola in Sicily,
150.

Donax and Psammobia used for
making sauces instead of cockles,
150.

Donax trunculus sold in the mar-
kets at Naples, 150.

Dredgers of Whitstable, 72.

Dreissena polymorpha, 62.

Dress of Anne of Cleves, 57.

Ducks fed on snails, 21.

Duke of Bedford, arms of the,
104.

Dutch oysters, 89.

INDEX.

Ear-shell, Haliotis
1153.

Ear-shells used in Guernsey by
farmers to frighten birds from
the corn, 114

Ear of Venus, 114.

Eastbourne oyster beds, 73.

Echinide eaten by the ancients,
179:

Fchini, to cook, 180.

Kehini best in autumn, 180.

Echini eaten raw like oysters, 180.

Echini move by means of their
spines, 176.

Echinus in holes of rocks, granite,
sandstone, and limestone, 177.

Echinus esculentus, 179.

Echinus esculentus the real oursin
comestible, 178.

Echinus granulosus, 179.

Echinus in heraldry, 177.

Echinus lividus, or purple egg
urchin, eaten on the west coast
of Ireland, 177.

Echinus lividus eaten at Naples,
179.

Echinus melo, 179.

Echinus sphera, 176.

Echinus spheera, shells of, 177.

Eledone cirrhosus, 166.

Elenchi, long pearl-shaped pearls
called, 56.

Enemies of the oyster, 70.

Enthronization feast of William
Warham, 133.

Escallop in heraldry borne not
only as a pilgrim’s badge, 105.
Escallop shell, crest of Bower and

of Bullingham, 104.

Escargotiéres, or snail gardens, 12.

Escargots, 14.

Escourgol, 14.

Esnandes, 45.

Experiments by M. Cuzent on
green oysters, 79.

Export of snails from Saintonge
and Aunis to Senegal and the
Antilles, 15.

Extracting copper from oysters,51.

Extravagance in jewellery from the
12th to 16th centuries, 57.

tuberculata,

193

Eyilkier, 180.

Falmouth oysters sent to Maren-
nes, 79.

Famine of 1816 and 1817, 15.

Fish and oyster culture company,
75.

Fishing for mussels in Bay of Con-
cepcion, 50.

Flia, 119.

Flitters, 119.

Folado, 161.

Foreign pearls, 54.

Fortunes predicted by snails, 21.

Fountain of shells, 111.

French mussel breeders, 47.

French names for limpets, 121.

French names for scallops, 101.

Fried oysters another way, 89.

Frills or queens, 99.

Fuegian women dive for sea-eggs,
178.

Fusus antiquus, red or almond
whelk, 132.

Fusus antiquus used as food, 132.

Fusus antiquus, shells of, used as
lamps, 133.

Fusus antiquus sold in London
under the name of whelk, 124.

Fusus antiquus, white variety, 133.

Gambling by means of snail races,
au.
Gaper, or Mya, 153.
Garden snail, Helix aspersa, 1.
Garden walks made of cockle
shells, 28.
Gathering cry of pilgrims, 108.
Glamorganshire way of pickling
oysters, 94.
Glow-worm, lines on a, 161.
Gofiche, or scallop, 101.
Goggle, or whelk, 29.
Gongola, or Mactra, 152.
Googawns and cuckoo-shells, 124.
Gower, a Flemish colony, 28.
Gower people live on cockles, 28.
Gower method of cooking cockles,
36.
Gower recipe for oyster soup, 85.
Grand’-peélerine, 101.
O

194

Granville fisheries, 77.

Great drought in Ireland in 1792
or 1793, 52.

Green oysters in France, 78.

Grilled oysters, 90.

Grosille, 101.

Guisado de Caracoles, 24.

Gwean, or periwinkle, 135.

Gwillim’s Heraldry, 22.

Habits of snails studied by the
ancients, 22.

Haliotide, 113.

Haliotide brought to Birming-
ham, 114.

Haliotis gigantea eaten by the Ca-
lifornian Indians, 114.

Haliotis Iris, or mutton-fish, 114.

Haliotis tuberculata, 113.

Hardships of pearl divers, 60.

Hélices Vigneronnes method of
cooking, 26.

Helicide in the markets in Murcia
and Valencia, 19.

Helicide as Lenten fare, 13.

Helix aperta, 15.

Helix arbustorum, 10.

Helix aspersa, garden snail, 1.

Helix aspersa, French names for,
14.

Helix aspersa used in medicine, 3.

Helix hortensis, 16.

Helix ianthma, 129.

Helix ianthina found on the coast
about Tyre and Beyroot, 129.

Helix lactea, 20.

Helix lactea cooked with rice, 20.

Helix lactea eaten in France and
Spain, 20.

Helix lactea found in Corsica,
gk.

Helix nemoralis, wood snail, 1.

Helix nemoralis found in Danish
kjékkenméddings, 3.

Helix nemoralis eaten at Toulouse,
iG:

Helix Pisana, the banded snail, 2.

Helix Pisana, where found in Great
Britain, 16.

Helix pomatia, apple or vine
snail, 1.

EDIBLE BRITISH

MOLLUSKS.

Helix pomatia found in Kent,
Surrey, Gloucestershire, etc., 2.

Helix pomatia, white variety and
reversed specimens, 2.

Helix rhodostoma, 16.

Helix vermiculata, 17.

Hill of broken shells, 32.

Holland, the greatest supply of
scallops is from, 100.

Holothuriade, 176.

Horse mussei (Mytilus modiolus),
52.

Horsewinkle, 135.

Hotel at Paris for pilgrims, 107.

Hydra of Lerna, a polypus or sepia,
170.

Ika-surame, or squids, 172.

Illyrian snails mentioned by Pliny,
said by Sir Gardner Wilkinson
to be very numerous in Veglia
or Veggia, 11.

Image of St. James, 110.

Incitatus, the favourite horse of
the Emperor Caligula, 56.

Indien belief of the origin of pearls,
30.

Indians use Haliotids for orna-
ments, 114.

Ink of cuttlefish, 173.

Invention of oyster beds by Ser-
gius Orata, 68.

Investigations of the Commis-
sioners on the Irish fisheries, 75.

Irish names for cockle, 27.

Irish way of cooking cockles, 36.

Irish oysters, 74.

Trish pearls, 54.

Island of Ré and its oyster beds,
‘ve

Isle of Man scallop beds, 101.

Tsocardia Cor, 42.

Isocardia Cor, account of, by the
Rev. James Bulwer, 43.

Isocardia Cor, Mediterranean spe-
cies, 44.

Italian names for the Pinna, 139.

Jacobite, or Jacobipetz, 107.
Jacobsmuschel, 101.
Jambonneaux, 139.

INDEX.

Japanese pilgrims use the scallop-
shell as a badge, 111.

Jardiniére, 14.

Javanese belief that pearls breed,
30.

*“ Jemmy ” the pearl-catcher, 54.

Jersey oysters, 73.

Jugurtha loses his treasures, 10.

Juice of the purple fish requires
exposure to the sun to produce
the colour, 128.

Kang John and the Milton fisheries,
73.

Kirkeens, or kirkeen thraws, 101.

Kjokkenméddings, Danish, 33.

Kjékkenméddings at Newhaven,

- Sussex, 33.

Kjokkenméddings, Scotch, de-
scribed by Rev. G. Gordon, 33.

Klaffmuschel, or Mya, 154.

Kraken, Norwegian, 169.

Kraken, altar erected on its sur-
face, 170.

Kreaklingur, or mussel, 45.

Kunyu, or Mya truncata, 154.

Laborde, M., partakes of live snails,

Lady’s dress figured with dye of
the purple fish, 129.

L’ Aillado, 26.

L’ Ayoli, or ail-y-oli, 26.

La Cacalaousada, 26.

Lana penna, 140.

Lana pesca, or fish wool, 140.

Land poiypus mentioned by Pliny,
170.

Langskoel, 39.

Lapa burra, 113.

Lapa, or limpet, 121.

Large oysters mentioned by Pliny,
6¥.

Large oysters met with near Trin-
comalee by Sir James E. Ten-
nent, 69.

Leaden coffins ornamented with
scallop-shells, etc., 105.

Legend of St. James, 106.

Leigh oyster fisheries, near South-
end, 71.

Leister, or trident, 166.

Leitrigens, to cook, 100.

Lepade, 121.

Lid scallop, 97.

Lid scallop used in shell-work, 97.

Lid scallop at Dawlish, 97.

Ligurian and snails, 10,

Limaia or limaio, 16.

Limaou and limat, 14.

Limassade, la, 26.

Lime made from calcined cockle-
shells, 28.

Limpet, German names for, 121.

Limpet, habits of, 118.

Limpet juice and oatmeal, 119.

Limpet, or patella, 117.

Limpets, to dress, 122.

Limpets for bait, 118.

Limpets, large, on
coast, 118.

Limpets eaten at Eastbourne, 119.

Limpets, Eastbourne method of
dressing, 122.

Limpets consumed at Larne, co.
Antrim, 119.

Limpets eaten on the coast ot
Normandy, 119.

Limpet and oyster catcher, 121.

Limpets eaten at Plymouth, 119.

Limpets roasted, 122.

Limpet sauce, 122.

Limpet-shells found in cromlechs,
120.

Limpet-shells used for mortar,121.

Limpet soup, 122.

Limpet soup at Naples, 119.

Limpets, large, in South America,
118.

Lincolnshire Fens supply Covent
Garden with snails, 9.

Littorina littorea, 134.

Littorinide, 134.

Livrée, 16.

Lohgo, or squid, 171.

Long oyster, or Pholas dactylus,
162.

Longherone, 45.

Lulu el Berberi, or Abyssinian
oyster, 115.

Luma, and Gros Luma, name for
Helix pomatia, 17.

Devonshire

o 2

196

Lustreless pearls, 61.

Lutraria elliptica, 143.

Lutraria maxima, or great clam,
101.

Lutraria oblonga, 153.

Mactra glauca, or helvacea, 152.

Mactra solida, 151.

Mactra stultorum, 151.

Mactra stultorum, roads made of
the shells of, 152.

Mactra subtruncata, or lady cockle,
152.

Mactride, 151.

Mactride, to dress, 153.

Madre-perna, 139.

Madrid, price of oysters at, 81.

Manche de couteau, 41.

Marennes oysters, 79.

Meleagrina margaritifera, or white
pearl-shell, 115.

Menestra de ostras y Almejas, 146.

Meninx, in Africa, famed for its
purple, 131.

Messerschalenmuschel, 41.

Military order of Santiago de la
Espada, 109.

Milk rendered luminous by a
Pholas, 162.

Milton natives, 73.

Miranha Indians, 117.

Mock asses’-milk, 6.

Mock pearls, 116.

Mogne, 16.

Mogul, anecdote of a, 59.

Moldavian snails, large, 11.

Molimorno, 16.

Moonbeam injurious to fish, 81.

Mossel, Dutch name for mussel,45.

Mother-of-pearl made of Halio-
tidee, 114.

Mother-of-pearl buttons, etc., 115.

Mother-of-pearl cups, 115.

Mother-of-pearl, crucifixes
beads made of, 115.

Mother-of-pearl, dishes and bowls
of 115.

Mother-of-pearl, fountayne and
basen of, 116.

Mother-of-pearl, shippes made of,
116.

and

EDIBLE BRITISH

MOLLUSKS.

Mother-of-pearl, watch set in, 116.

Moucle de vigne, 17,

Moule, 45.

Mucianus and the oysters of Cyzi-
cus, 69.

Muergo, Andalusian name for the
razor-shell, 41.

Murex brandaris, 131.

Murex erinaceus destructive to
oysters, 70.

Murex trunculus, 129.

Murex trunculus eaten in Spain,
132.

Muricidex, 123.

Muschel, 45.

Muscl, muskel, muscule, Anglo-
Saxon names for mussel, 45.

Muskels in brewet, 63.

Musselburgh, 48.

Mussel beds, or bouchots, 46.

Mussel, common, 44.

Mussels used for bait, 48.

Mussels and cockles, to cook, 67.

Mussels from Cornwall, ete., for
Billingsgate, 47.

Mussels consumed at Edinburgh
and Leith, amount of, 47.

Mussels and cockles in
raounds, 34.

Mussels dressed a la Provengale,
66. ‘

Mussels, to dress, 65.

Mussels, large, from Exmouth, 51.

Mussels a valuable article of food,
51.

Mussels fit for food in the winter
months, 52.

Mussels fed on spawn of starfish
injurious to eat, 52.

Mussels, French trade in, 47. _

Mussel fritters, 66.

Mussels injurious if gathered from
ships’ sides, ete., 51.

Mussel sauce, 65.

Mussels, scalloped, Francatelli’s
recipe, 66.

Mussels, seaweed, and shingle, ren-
der embankments firm, 49.

Mussels, little, called seeds, 46.

Mussel-shell for cutting the hair,50.

Mussels sent to La Rochelle, 47.

shell-

INDEX.

Massel soup, 65.

Mussel spawn, 45.

Mussels suspended from ropes, etc.,
attain a larger size than those
which live on sand or mud, 47.

Mussels to be transplanted in July,
46.

Mussels, value of, in times of scar-
city, 52.

Mutton-fish, or Haliotis Iris, 114.

Mya arenaria, 154.

Mya, natives of the Congo river
collect a species of, 155.

Mya used for skimming milk, 29.

Mya, skin said to be poisonous of,
155.

Mya truncata, 153.

Myade, 153.

Myade, habits of, 154.

Myade, Hampshire method of
cooking, 156.

Mye des Sables, or Mya arenaria,
sold at Bordeaux, 155.

Mytilide, 44.

Mytilus edulis, 44.

Mytilus modiolus, 52.

Mytilus modiolus eaten in Ireland,

Mytilus modiolus called the poi-
sonous mussel at Tenby, 53.

Nacherone, 139.

Nahak, or rubbish collected by
disease-makers in the island of

Wanna 125.

Napfmuschel, 121.

Napfschnecke, 121.

Napoleon I., the scabbard of his
sword made of gold and mother-
of-pearl, 116.

Nassa reticulata, 83.

Nassis, or osier kipe, 124.

Neapolitans eat mussels raw and
fried, 66.

Necklaces of limpet and other
shells found in British graves,
121.

Needle coated with copper, 79.

Nero’s golden house, 115.

Neumann’s description of the dog
whelk, 127.

TOF

Newcastle glassmen, feast of the,
Y2:

Normandy oysters, 77.

Northumbrian oyster cultivation,
74.

“ Nottle Tor,” 34.

Nympsfield, 121.

Oatmeal and cockles, 36.

Octopi prized by the N. American
Indians, 165.

Octopodia eaten by the modern
Greeks, 165.

Octopods in market at Smyrna,
165.

Octopus vulgaris rare on British
coast, 167.

Octopus vulgaris, specimens at
Eastbourne and Babbicombe,
167.

Octopus vulgaris, French method
of cooking, 178.

Odd method of cooking an oyster
described by Evelyn, 84.

(Hil de boue, 121.

Oil of black snails, 7.

Old English rhyme on snails, 22.

Old pearls said to adhere to the
shell, 55.

Olivette, or scallop, 99.

Ommastrephes, or flying squids,
172.

Onyches, 161.

Orders of knighthood whicn used
the scallop-shell as au ornament,
109.

Orecchiale, 113.

Oriental pearls, 59.

Ormer, or ear-shell, 113.

Ormers fried or pickled in vinegar,
pale

Ormer-shells used to frighten birds
from corn in Guernsey, 114.

Ormers, Jersey market supplied
with, from the French coast,
113.

Ormer, to dress to perfection, 117.

Ormier, 113.

Ormond, 114.

Ostend oysters, 71.

Ostione, 80.

198

Ostras asadas, or fried oysters,
89.

Ostras en concha, scalloped oysters,
93.

Ostras en escabechados, pickled
oysters, 95.

Ostras guisadas, ragout of oysters,
90.

Ostras 4 la Pollada, 90.

Ostreade, 68.

Ostrea edulis, 68.

Ostrea Virginica at Cadiz, 80.

Ostrea Virginica on the French
coast at Arcachon, 81.

Ostrea Virginica discovered by Sir
G. Wilkinson at Tenby, 81.

Otaria, 114.

Otter-shell, Lutraria maxima, 101.

Oursin comestible, 178.

Oursin livide, 179.

Oursin melon, 179.

Ova, or Mytilus modiolus, 52.

Oxhorn cockle, 42.

Oxhorn cockles prized by the Brix-
ham fishermen, 43.

Oyster, 68.

Oyster of Abydus, 70.

Oyster atlets, 87.

Oyster atlets curried, 87.

Oyster baskets in Paris, 80.

Oyster bed in Glenluce Bay, 76.

Oyster beds off Hayling and Ports-
mouth, 73.

Oyster bed in Lough Swilly, 75.

Oysters, charity, 61.

Oysters. for consumptive people, -

82.

Oysters from Cornwall, 74.

Oysters of Cyzicus, 69.

Oysters fattest at the full of the
moon, 81.

Oyster forcemeat, 92.

Oysters, to fry, 89.

Oysters, fried, another way, 89.

Oyster fritters, 93.

Oysters au Gratin, 96.

Oysters, grilled, 90.

Oysters will not grow in the Baltic,
83.

Oyster heaps at Creggauns, in Ty-
rone, 83.

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Oyster ketchup, 96.

Oyster loaves, 93.

Oysters, minced, 91.

Oysters, mussels, and periwinkles
at Leigh, 71.

Oyster pie, 94.

Oyster powder, 95.

Oyster sauce, 86.

Oyster, brown sauce, 86.

Oyster sausages, to make, 91.

Oyster sausages, 91.

Oysters, scalloped in the old way,
92.

Oysters scalloped, 92.

Oysters always in season at New
York, 81.

Oysters from Colchester sent to
Leicester and Walsingham in
Queen Elizabeth’s reign, 71.

Oyster-shells for holy-water, 82.

Oyster-shell island on the east
coast of Corsica, 82.

Oyster-shells as manure, 82.

Oyster-shells used by the Romans
as toothpowder, 82.

Oyster soup, 84.

Oyster soup with fish stock, 85.

Oyster soup another way, 85.

Oyster trade in the vicinity of New
York, 81.

Paignton method of cooking Car-
dium rusticum, 38.

Palostrega, 139.

Palourde, or Tapes, 144.

Palourde, or scallop, 101.

Pandore oysters, 76.

Parisians eat snails for breakfast,
19.

Patella atidetinn, 121.

Patella vulgata, 117.

Patelle, or limpet, 121.

Patellide, 117.

Patellidee eaten by the ancients,
120.

Pearls called bones or stones by
Greek authors, 55.

Pearls said to be congealed dew-
drops, 30.

Pearl fishery on the coast of Co-
lumbia, 60.

INDEX.

Pearl fisheries of Condatchy, Aripo,
and Manaar, 60.

Pearl fishery at Bahrein, 60.

Pearl fishery at Omagh, 54.

Pearls found in the Aplysia, or sea-
hare, 53.

Pearls found in the oyster, scallop,
cockle, periwinkle, etc., 53.

Pearls like black muscades, 58.

Pearl called the Sleeping Lion, 59.

Pearl, largest known, 60.

Pearl-lime, 61.

Pearl mussels in Lochs Earn, Tay,
ete., 54.

Pearls in common mussel (Mytilus
edulis), 53.

Pearl necklaces and chains for the |

hands and feet worn by the Per-
sians and Medes, 55.

Pearls in Unio margaritiferus, 53..

Pearls preferred to other orna-
ments until the death of Maria
Theresa, 57.

Pearl oyster, Meleagrina margari-
tifera, 55.

Pearl called la Peregrina, 59.

Pearl-shell snail, Turbo cornutus,
115.

Peasants near La Rochelle gather
snails to send to America, 15.

Pecten Jacobeeus, 103.

Pecten maximus, 100.

Pecten opercularis, 97.

Pecten varius, eaten in France, 99.

Peignes, 101.

Pelagia, the shellfish, 130.

Pelagium, the juice, or colour, 130.

Pellerinella, 99.

Periwinkle, 134.

Periwinkles mentioned by Athe-
neeus, 135.

Periwinkles, to boil, 137.

Periwinkles in Brittany called
Vrélin or Brélin, 135.

Periwinkles, large consumption of,
in London, 136.

Periwinkles of various colours,135.

Periwinkles in kjOkkenméddings, |

cy Ae
Periwinkles abundant in Scotch
kjokkenméddings, 33.

199

Periwinkle, limpet, etc., found in
the Irish oyster heaps, 83.

Periwinkles sent to London from
Belfast, 136.

Periwinkles in the Orkneys, 136.

Periwinkles sent from Southamp-
ton to Jersey, 136.

Periwinkle soup, 187.

Periwinkles, to stew, 137.

Periwinkles called whelks at Bel-
fast, 135.

Periwinkle, variety of form, 135.

Perles barroques, 57.

Petite palourde,or Pecten varius,99.

Phasianella, or Venetian shells,
177.

Philoxenus the Solenist, 40.

Puoladide, 156.

Pholas used as bait, 161.

Pholas collected at Dieppe for food
and bait, 163.

Pholas costata, a West Indian
species, 163.

Pholas crispata, 163.

Pholas dactylus, 156.

Pholas, dried, recovers its lumino-
sity when rubbed or moistened,
162.

Pholas sold in Jersey market ready
boiled for eating, 163.

Pholas, Normandy method of cook-
ing, 163.

Pholas, its perforating powers, a
subject of discussion, 157.

Pholas, its phosphorescence, 162.

Pholas eaten raw in Spain, 163.

Pickled oysters, 94.

Pickled oysters for the London
markets, Soyer’s recipe, 95.

Pickling oysters in the Glamorgan-
shire way, 94.

Piddoek, or clam, 156.

Pilgrim offerings, 108.

Pilgrims-muschel, 101.

Pilgrim scallop, Pecten Jacobeeus,
103.

Pincushions made of shells, 49.

Pinna, Aufrére describes the col-
lecting of the, 140.

Pinna, British localities for the,
138.

200

Pinna forms a dish at an Attic ban-
quet, 141.

Pinna at Dawlish, 138.

Pinna, or nacre, described by
Pliny, 139.

Pinna a recherché dish at Naples,
141.

Pinna pectinata, 138.

Pinna soup, 142.

Pinna wool, 140.

Pinne fried like cutlets, 142.

Pinnophylax, 139.

Pinnoteres, 139.

Pinnotheres pisum, 51.

Pinnotheres veterum, 51.

Piscinola, the famous diver, 168.

Planorbis corneus yields a dye, 132.

Plato recommends the polypus to
be boiled or roasted, 165.

Pliny and the luminosity of the
Pholas after death, 161.

Pliny mentions several kinds of
snails, 10.

Pliny recommends snails for a
cough, 8.

Pliny’s observations on the scallop,

Pliny’s supper, 11.

Poisoning by green oysters at
Rochefort, 79.

Poli’s method of cooking Cardium
rusticum, 39.

Polpo, Italian name for the com-
mon poulp, 165.

Polynesian method of catching
cuttlefish, 167.

Polypus said by Pliny to arrest
hemorrhage if bruised and ap-
plied, 170.

Polypus, its dangerous powers,168.

Polypus, symbol of Messina, is
figured on a medal of that city,
174.

Pontoppidan’s description of the
kraken, 169.

Pope, the, uses a purple robe to
celebrate Mass in Lent and Ad-
vent, etc., 132.

Porphyra shellfish, discovery of
the, 129.

Potage a la Poissoniére, 85.

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Poulp, habits of, 166.

Poulp in the Mediterranean, 165.

Poulp, large, at Nice, 167.

Poulps live in holes amongst rocks,
166.

Poultry fed on Patella vulgata,
121.

Poultry fed with lustreless pearls
and grain, to restore brilliancy
to the pearls, 61.

Powder-horns, 138.

Price of Haliotide in Channel
Isles, 115.

Price of Helix aspersa, 17.

Price of Helix nemoralis, 16.

Price of Helix pisana at Marseil-
les, 16.

Price of Helix pomatia, 17.

Price of Helix vermiculata, 17.

Price of mussels taken at Lymp- ©
stone, 47.

Price of oysters at Billingsgate in
1864, 80.

Price of scallops, 98.

Prices of Scotch pearls, 53.

Principal oyster beds, 70.

Professional pilgrim at Santiago
de Compostella, 111.

Proper seasons for visiting Spain
for scientific purposes, 19.

Proportions for mixing the juice of
the buecinum and pelagium for
dyeing wool, 130.

Protection to English pilgrims,
107.

Provengaux
aperta, 15.

Psammobia vespertina, or “ thie
setting sun,” 149.

Psammobia vespertina eaten at
Keninare, 149.

Psammobia vespertina, localities
for, 150.

Pudworm, 161.

Puerto, Santa Maria, supplies
Madrid with oysters, 80.

Pullers, sugar-loons, or colliers,
155.

Pullet, or cullyock, 142.

Pullet, or cullyock, used for bait,
143.

Helix

names for

INDEX. 201

Purchase snails and eat them, 18.

Purple-dye used by the Nicaraguan
Indians prepared from shellfish,
129.

Purple-dye produced from two
kinds of fish, the Buecinum and
the Purpura, purple or pelagia,
129.

Purple fish, 127.

Purple fish, various kinds men-
tioned by Athenzeus, 130.

Purple imported from the Pelo-
ponnesus in the days of Ezekiel,
131.

Purpura Anglicana, 128.

Purpura lapillus, the dog-whelk,
127.

Purpura lapillus used for dyeing
linen in Ireland in 1684, 127.
Purpura lapillus eaten in France,

132.

Purr, or butterfish, 143.

Pyrenean name, caracolo, for snails,
16.

Quadrans, a small copper coin, 11.

Quadrantes, 80, contained in a
snail shell, 11.

Queen Elizabeth purchases Mary
Queen of Scots’ pearls, 57.

Queen Mary’s parure of pearls, 58.

Queens, or scallops, 99.

Radiata, or Echinodermata, 176.

Ragott of snails, 12.

Ragott of snails, Spanish recipe,
24.

Ragott of oysters, 90.

Raw oysters beneficial to persons
who suffer from weak digestions,
82.

Razor-fish on the Scotch coast, 42.

Razor-fish, to cook, 42.

Razor-fish soup, 41.

Razor-shell, or Solen, 39.

Razor-shells in the Bay of Con-
cepcion, 41.

Razor-shells, collecting, 40.

Red Bank oyster-bed, 74.

Red whelk, almond whelk, Fusus
antiquus, 182.

Red whelk used for bait at Dublin,

133.

Red whelk sold at Liverpool, taken
on the Cheshire coast, 132.

Refuse heaps on the shores of the
Moray Firth, 34.

Renouvelains, 46.

Rivers Irt and End, pearls found
in, 30.

Roasted oysters, 90.

Rocher de Cancale oysters, 77.

Romans partial to snails, 10.

Roman ladies wore pearls at night,
56.

Romulus employed the purple dye
for the trabea, 131.

Rossmiissler and the empty snail-
shells, 20.

Rufina, 101.

Ruocane, 27.

Rush baskets containing snails,14.

Sabot, or periwinkle, 135.

Sacred geese in the te.nple of Jnno,
10.

St. Clement’s Church, Sandwich,
133.

St. James of Compostella per-
formed many miracles, 108.

St. James, patron of Spain, 110.

Saintonge and Aunis, snails ex-
ported from, 15.

Salsa de Almejas, 146.

Sand clam, or Solen, 101.

Sauces for snails, 26.

Scalaria communis yields a purple
liquor, 132.

Scallop great, Pecten maximus,100.

Scallop called the butterfly of the
ocean, 97.

Scallops, to cook, 1138.

Scallop, its movement described
by Mr. Gosse, 98.

Seallops, to dress, 112.

Scallops at Clavijo dropped there
by St. James, 109.

Scallops, to fry, 99.

Scallops with matelote sauce, 99.

Scallop-shell in heraldry, 104.

Scallop-shell the badge of the pil-
grim, 103.

202

Scallop-shell figured on coins, 111.

Scallop-shells used as lamps, 103.

Seallop-shellson monumental slabs,
105.

Seallop-shells belong legitimately
to Compostella pilgrims, 107.
Sca'lops sent to the London market
principally from Holland, 101.

Scallop soup, 99.

Scallops, to stew, 112.

Scallops at Vigo the constant food
of all classes from Christmas to
Easter, 101.

Seallops at Weymouth, 98.

Scarcity of Oxhorn cockle, 42.

Scheidenmuschel, 41.

Scotch kjékkenméddings, 33.

Scotch pearls in demand abroad in
twelfth century, 55.

Scotch pearl fishery revived, 53.

Scotch rivers contain pearl mus-
sels, 54.

Scrobicularia piperata, or Mudhen,
143.

Sea-birds feed on Patellidse, 121.

Sea-egg, common, or sea-urchin,
176.

Sea-eggs sold in the market at
Marseilles, 179.

Sea-eggs eaten raw in Chili, 178.

Sea-egg fishing in the Bay of
Naples, 178.

Sea-sneegl, or sea-snail, 135.

Season for oysters, 80.

Sea-urchin, anecdote of Lacede-
monian and the, 179.

Sea-urchin described by Pliny,176.

Sea-urchin recommended to be
eaten raw, 179.

Sea-wing, 138.

Seche, Seiche, or Casseron, 164.

Seed pearls, 61.

Seeohr, 113.

Sepiadee, 163.

Sepia, method of making, 173.

Sepia officinalis, 163.

Sepia used in painting, 173.

Sepiata, or supieta, 173.

Sepiola Rondeletti, 173.

Seppietta, or Calamaretto, 173.

Serranos, 19.

EDIBLE BRITISH

MOLLUSKS.

Serranos, stewed, 19.

Shannon oyster-beds, 74.

Shark-charmer, 61.

Shellfish good for those who take
too much wine, 145.

Shellimidy, or snail, reeommended
for many diseases 1m Ireland, 5.

Shellimidy forragy, or periwinkle,
135.

Shell-lime, 49.

Shell-mounds of cockle-shells, 32.

Shell-mounds of St. Michel-en-
L’ Herm, 82.

Shells of Anodontze used for skim-
ming milk, 62.

Shells of Galicia, 107.

Shell-snails, pounded, for a swell-
ing on the joints, 6.

Shells found in stene coffins, 108.

Shells used as trumpets in Mus-
covy and Lithuania by herds-
men, 125.

Shell trumpets used by sorcerers
in the Island of Tanna, New
Hebrides, 125.

Shell trumpets in Tahiti, 125.

Shelley, arms of Sir John, 133.

Shelly-meddings, 34.

Ship and Escallop-shell, order of
the, 109.

Silesian way of feeding snails, 13.

Silkworm of the sea, 140.

Silver spoon boiled with mussels

to prove if they are wholesome,
52.

Singular custom near Bordeaux,
153.

Sir J. E. Tennent mentions large
oysters at Kottiar, near Trin-
comalee, 69.

Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson and the
Illvrian snails mentioned by
Pliny, 11.

Size of shell-mounds at St. Michel-
en-l’ Herm, 82.

Sliga-crechin, or the drinking shell,
29.

Sligane-mury, 101.

Small crabs in mussels said to make
them unwholesome, 51.

Smnirslingur, 154.

INDEX.

Smooth-shelled pearl mussels sup-
posed not to contain pearls, 54.

Smurslin, 154.

Snail borne as arms in heraldry,
23.

Snail, crest of the Carpenters of
Somersetshire, and of the Galay
family, 23.

Snailery at Dijon, 17.

Snail feast at Newcastle no longer
exists, 12.

Snail garden at Friburg, 12.

Snail garden in Lorraine sur-
rounded with trellis-work, 12.

Snail hunters, 19.

Snail races, 21.

Snail, or shellimidy, 5.

Snail called Tardigrada domiporta,
or the slow-going house-bearer,
22.

Snail, water, pectoral, 4.

Snails at Algiers’sold in the mar-
ket by the bushel, 21.

Snails cure ague, 3.

Snails a cure for asthma, 5.

Snails as bait for prawns, 21.

Snails at Cairo, 21.

Snails consumed in Burgundy,
Champagne, etc., 17.

Snails for a consumption, 6.

Snails and earthworms for a con-
sumption, 5.

Snails for a cough recommended
by Pliny, 8.

Snails eaten in Corsica, 17.

Snails, small white, as a cosmetic,
9.

Snails used in the manufacture of
cream, 9.

Snails exported from Crete, 17.
Snails eaten all the year round at
Hyéres, except at Easter, 15.
Snails for curing a web in the eye,

4.

Snails, to dress, 23.

Snails, to fatten, 13.

Snails fed on bran at Naples, 13.

Snails, fifteen species eaten on the
Continent, 14.

Snails of woods and forests, 17.

Snails, grits of sand found in their

203

horns recommended for stopp-
ing toothache, 8.

Snails as food for birds, 9.

Snails cooked in the French way,
23.

Snails, on old French recipe for
dressing, with a sauce, 23.

Snails give a flavour to wine, 19.

Snails at Hyéres, 14.

Snails pounded for an impostume
(whitlow), 8.

Snails for internal pains, 8.

Snails kept in jars, etc., 13.

Snails, large specimens from Mol-
davia, 11.

Snails as a medicine, 3.

Snails brought to Nantes on Sun-
days and féte days, 18.

Snails, Normandy way of cooking,
another recipe, 24.

Snails sold in the Paris markets,
18.

Snails sent to Paris ready cooked,
18.

Snails formerly in Paris only found
in the herbalists’ shops, ete., 18.

Snails with parsley, Caracoles con
Perejil, 23.

Snails, when poisonovs, 13.

Snails as a plaster, 3.

Snails at the restaurants in Paris,
18.

Snails swallowed raw, a remedy
for a weak chest, 8.

Snails, when considered in season
in Paris, 19.

Snails and sheep’s trotters for a
consumption, 6.

Snails for sheep, said to flavour the
mutton, 9.

Snails smoked and dried, 26.

Snails from Soletura, 11.

Snails and black sope, a cure for
corns, 3.

Snails eaten in Spain not only by
the poorer classes, 19.

Snails, Spanish method of eating,

Snails, stuffed, considered very
good, 26.
Snails eaten in Syria, 21.

204:

Snails, method of transporting
live, 15.

Snails, or escargots, kept in winter
by the vine growers of Dijon in
trenches dug in the vine slopes,
13.

Snails at Vienna, 13.

Snail-shells, ashes of, good for the
gums, 8.

Snail-shells found at Auch, Agen,
ELC., 3.

Snail-shells found in kjékkenméd-
dings, 3.

Snail-shells found at Lymne, in
Kent, 3.

Snail-shells found on the sites of
Roman stations, 2.

Snails-shells holding 40 sixpences,
bk

Solen, or razor-shell, 39.

Solen ensis, 39.

Solen ensis eaten in the Feroe
Isles, 39.

Solenide, 39.

Solenist, Philoxenus called the, 40.

Solenistee, people so called who
collected solens, 40.

Solen marginatus, or vagina, 39.

Solen marginatus prized as an
article of food by the Neapoli-
tans, 39.

Solen siliqua the largest British
species, 39.

Solens an expensive dish at Naples,
41.

Solens prized in Japan, 41.

Solens mentioned by Ulloa, 41.

Solens, another way to cook, 42.

Sopa de Almejas, or Tapes soup,
145.

Soyer’s recipe for cooking mussels,
64.

Soyer’s recipe for pickling oysters
for the London markets, 95.
Soyer’s method of. cooking scal-

lops, 99.

Soyer’s porridge of cockles, 35.

Spaniards hand white wine round
with shellfish, 145.

Spanish cure for consumption, oil
of black snails, 7.

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Spanish cure for the headache, 7.

Spanish way of making fish sauce,
150.

Spanish method of cooking all
kinds of shellfish, 151.

Spanish recipes for cooking snails
with rice, butter, ete., 20.

Spout-fishes, 39.

Springing Loligo mentioned by
Pliny, 172.

Squid highly esteemed by the an-
cients, 171.

Squid or squill used for bait, 171.

Squid-fishing in Japan, 172.

Squid, or calmar, eaten on the
French coast, 171.

Squinns, 99.

Starfish feeds on oysters, 70.

Steam fishing vessel built at
Cockenzie, 76.

Steckmuschel, 139.

Stumpfmuschel, 150.

Sugar-loons, 155.

Sun, the setting, or Psammobia
vespertina, 149.

Superiority of British oysters, 68.

Superstitions of the Ceylonese
divers, 61.

Superstitions of the Scotch fisher-
men, 76.

Superstitious dread of freshwater
mussels, 63.

Syrup of snails, 7.

Tapa, tapada, or tapet, names for
Helix aperta, 15.

Tapes, or Almejas, 145.

Tapes aurea eaten in Ireland, 144.

Tapes aurea found in the Scilly
Isles, 145.

Tapes cooked another way, Alme-
jas cocidas, 146.

Tapes cooked Hampshire method,
147.

Tapes decussata, Almejas blancas,
145.

Tapes decussata eaten in Devon-
shire, Hampshire, and Sussex,
143.

Tapes decussata more local than
Tapes pullastra, 143.

INDEX,

Tapes decussata common near Ex-
mouth, 143.

Tapes decussata, called purr, and
butterfish, 143.

Tapes decussata, how to find, 144.

Tapes decussata called Clouvisso
or Clovisse on the French coast,
144.

Tapes decussata highly prized by
the Spaniards, 144.

Tapes au naturel, Almejas al na-
tural, 146.

Tapes, potage of oysters and,
Menes:ra de Ostras y Almejas,
146.

Tapes pullastra, pullet or cullyock,
142.

Tapes pullastra, a common species,
143.

Tapes pullastra used for bait in the
Northern Isles, 148.

Tapes ragout, Almejas guisadas,
146.

Tapes sauce, Salsa de Almejas,
146.

Tapes soup, Sopa de Almejas, 145.

Tapes Virginea varies much in
colour, 144.

Tapes Virginea at Dawlish and
Tenby, 144.

Taprobane, island of, most pro-
ductive of pearls, 55.

Tarentine, red, 131.

Tarentum, ancient dyeing-houses
at, 131.

Tavernier’s pearls, 60.

Tellinide, 149.

Tellinide rarely used for food in
Great Britaim, 149.

Tellinide mentioned by Athenzeus,
150.

Tellinide, sauces made of. 150.

Teredo, account of the, 157.

Teredo said to be good to eat, and
excelling all shellfish, 160.

Teredo navalis and Teredo norve-
gica, 160.

Teuthide, 173.

Teuthis, Aristotle speaks of the,
which has ink of a pale colour,
173,

209

Theognis, riddle of, 127.

Theophrastus on the habits of
snails, 16.

Thrushes partial to snails, 10.

Tootoofe, 167.

Torbay-noses, or Oxhorn cockles,
43,

Torbay-noses, to dress, 44.

Trabea, Romulus uses the purple
dye for the, which was purple
and white, 132.

Trabea, Servius mentions
other kinds of, 132.

Trabea, the royal robe worn by the
early kings, 132.

Trade, oyster, with Belgium, 71.

Trade, pickled oyster, between
London and Glamorganshire,
75.

Trade in snails at Covent Garden,
9.

Tridacna gigas, shells of, used for
holy-water, 82.

Trigonia pectinata, an Australian
bivalve, 117.

Trigonia . pectinata,
brooches, etce.,
shells, 117.

Trochide sold occasionally as
winkles at Jersey, 136.

Trochus found in the Creggaun
heap, with the shells of the
oyster, mussel, etc., 83.

Trogmuscheln, 152.

Trompetenschnecke, or Kinkhorn,
127.

Trough-shell, or Mactra, 151.

Troyes supplies Paris with the ap-
ple or vine snails ready boiled
in their shells, 18.

Tumps, 121.

Turbinellide, 126.

Turbinella rapa, or chank shell,
126. ‘

Turbinella rapa as a wind instru-
ment, 126.

Turbinella rapa sawn into rings
for anklets and bracelets, 126.

Turbinella, reversed shells of,

highly prized by the Chinese,
126.

two

bracelets,
made of the

206

Turbinella, consecrated oil kept in
reversed shells of, by the Chinese,
126.

Turbinella rapa, or sacred shell of
the Baddhists, 126.

Turbo cornutus, the snail pearl
shell, 115.

Tympana, or hand-drums of the
ancients, 56.

Tympania, or tambour-pearls, 55.

Tyre and Beyroot, Helix ianthina
common on the coast about, 129.

Tyre, the purple of, the best in
Asia, 130.

Tyre, said by Strabo to have had
numerous dyeing works, render-
ing the city unpleasant as a place
of residence, 130.

Tyre, holes observed there by a
modern traveller, Mr. Wilde,
cut in the solid sandstone rock
in which shells seem to have
been crushed, in ancient times,
131.

Tyrian medals, 130.

Tyrian purple hue given to wool
by soaking in the juice of the
Pelagia, and afterwards dipping
it in the juice of the Buccinum,
130.

Tyrian purple said to have been
produced from Murex brandaris,
151,

Ulm, celebrated for its escargo-
tiéres, 13.

Unionide eaten in the south of
Europe, 62.

Unionide, roasted in their shells,
or drenched with oil, etc., 62.
Unionide and Anodontz used for
bait in the neighbourhood of

Nantes, 62.

Unio margaritiferus, freshwater
pearl-mussel, 53.

Unio Requienii and Unio litoralis
found near Granada in the river
Jenil and brought to the market,
62.

Unio tumidus and Unio pictorum
produce small pearls, 62.

EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS.

Value of Mary, Queen of Scots’
pearls, 58.

Vanneau, or olivette, 99.

Various shells called clams, 101.

Veglia, or Veggia, the Cyractica of
Strabo, 11.

Veneride, 142.

Venus Chione, or Cytherea Chione,
148.

Venus Chione recommended by
Poli as most excellent food,148.

Venus Chione found at Plymouth,
etc., 148.

Venus mercenaria, the clam, 102.

Venus verrucosa, or the Warty
Venus, 147.

Venus verrucosa sold in the mar-
ket at Algiers, 147.

Venus verrucosa found in the En-
glish Channel, Channel Isles,
etc., 147.

Venus verrucosa, to cook, 149.
Venus verrucosa collectedat Herm,
near Guernsey, for food, 147.
Venus verrucosa eaten at Ken-
mare, Ireland, and also in

county Clare, 147.

Venus verrucosa cultivated on the
coast of Provence, 148.

Vessels called “cogs,” short and
of great breadth, like a cockle-
shell, whence the derivation of
the name, 34.

Vignot, vignette, French names for
periwinkle, 135.

Village of Charron, a large mussel
trade at the, 45.

Vinaigrette, la, a sauce for snails,
26.

Vrélin, or brélin, the periwinkle in
Brittany called, 135.

Walton, the Irishman, first estab-
lished mussel beds on the French
coast, 45.

Wampum, or Indian money, 102.

Wampum made of the clam Venus
mercenaria, 102.

Wampum, the, token of peace
amongst the American Indians,
102.

INDEX. 207

Water rats, and Dreissena poly-
morpha, 62.

Wedge-shell, or Donax, 150.

Weight of mussels sent at a time
to Billingsgate market, 47.

Welsh rivers contain pearl-mussels,
54.

Weolc, whelk in Anglo-Saxon is,
127.

Weolc-basn-hewen, meaning of,
127.

Weolc-read, or scarlet dye, 127.

Wexford oyster-beds, 75.

Wexford oysters taken to the
French coast for laying down,75.

Whelk, buckie, or conch, 124.

Whelk, an enemy to other mol-
lusks, 123.

Whelk, or purpura, symbol of the
city of Tyre, appears on the
Tyrian medals, 130.

Whelk sculptured on font in St.
Clement’s Church, Sandwich,
133.

Whelk soup, 134.

Whelk soup, another way of mak-
ing, 134.
Whelk-tingle,

124.

Whelk, a species of, used as trum-
pets in North Wales by the
farmers for calling their la-
bourers, 125.

Whelk, white varieties of the red
or almond, 138.

Whelks for bait, 124.

Whelks supplied to Billingsgate
chiefly from Harwich and Hull,
124.

or sting-winkle,

THE

Whelks taken in wicker baskets,
124.

Whelks, to dress, 134.

Whelks, Dublin method of cook-
ing, 134.

Whelks borne in heraldry, 133.

Whelks feed on oysters, 70.

Whelks, season for, 124.

Whelks troublesome to lobster-
fishers, 124.

White bones or pearls, 55.

White oysters from Spain, Bre-
tagne, etc., sent to Marennes,79.

White oyster sauce, 86.

White snails from Rieti, 10.

Whitstable oyster beds, 72.

Whitstable a fishing town of note
in the reign of Henry VIIL.,
yale

Whistles made of the shells of
Helix pomatia, 21.

Wigwam Cove, piles of old shells .
at, 32.

Winter soup of snails, 24.

Witch goes to sea in a mussel
shell, 49.

Women of the Shir tribe make
girdles and necklaces of river
mussel-shells, 117.

Wood snail, Helix nemoralis, 1.

Wordsworth’s lines on the limpet,
118.

Yoags, 53.
Youghal way of cooking sugar-
loons, 156.

Zostera marina, 179.
Zots-kappen, 43.

END.

PRINTED BY J. E. TAYLOR AND CO., LITTLE QUEEN STREET, HOLBORN.

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