1226 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



is cut into the shell. This hole is cut quite clean, as if 

 bored out with a jeweller's diamond. It is astonishing 

 what amount of devastation these innocent-looking molluscs 

 will do in a very short time : the softer the shell the more 

 rapidly does the dog- whelk do its work. The oyster being 

 thus killed, the adductor muscle relaxes, and the whelk 

 feasts itself at its leisure. If game is plentiful, the whelks^ 

 like some other voracious animals, will only eat the most 

 succulent parts of the fish, leaving the beard, &c., to the 

 less fastidious crabs that generally follow in their wake ; 

 passing on, on their errand of destruction of the nutritious 

 food that might well belong to their betters. 



O O 



Dog-whelks were atone time such a pest in the Black- 

 water the year before last, we think that fishermen were 

 paid by the owners of beds 6d. a hundred for bringing 

 them on shore. It is greatly to be regretted that, as these 

 animals are now useless, they are invariably thrown over- 

 board again when dredged up on common grounds. It is 

 thought that the Tyrian dye mentioned frequently in the 

 Bible was extracted from a shell of a somewhat similar 

 kind. Perhaps if the very strong dye that can be ex- 

 tracted from the dog-whelk were made into a fashionable 

 colour like peacock-blue, for aesthetic ornamentation, a 

 market might be found for this extremely objectionable 

 shell-fish 



COMMON WHELKS. 



Till quite recently it was not thought that the common 

 or edible whelks were enemies of the oyster, and even now 

 we must admit that for every oyster a common whelk kills 

 a dog-whelk will slay a hundred. 



The common whelks have also a weapon of offence that 

 proceeds from the apex of their shell, which they can use 



