1 62 'Natural Histcn'y of Molluscous Animals : — 



depend in great measure, when winter has destroyed their 

 summer food, on the more common species of Hehces, espe- 

 cially on H. nemoralis. These they break very dexterously 

 by reiterated strokes against some stone ; and it is not uncom- 

 mon to find a great quantity of fragments of shells together, 

 as if brought to one particular stone for this very purpose. * 



Fishes are stupid animals, and incapable apparently of 

 planning any stratagem by which they might surprise the un- 

 heeding conch. You might imagine, therefore, that our 

 favourites, " in their grotto works enclosed," were sufficiently 

 secure from their hostile attempts. It is not so. They are 

 the frequent victims, not indeed of the cunning, but of the in- 

 discriminating and almost insatiable appetite, of fishes ; and 

 from the stomach of a cod or flounder you may procure many 

 a shell, not otherwise so easily attainable. When indeed we 

 call to recollection the vast and incalculable numbers of mol- 

 luscous animals which crawl on the bottom, or swim in the 

 bosom, of the ocean, and the voracious habits of the swarms of 

 fish which every where traverse it, we may reasonably conclude 

 that their utility in this respect in the economy of nature is 

 very great, and beyond human ken. And not only do the 

 shellfish nourish, but it has been presumed, or perhaps 

 proved, that they impart a peculiar flavour to at least some of 

 their devourers, which greatly enhanced their value in the 

 esteem of Roman epicures. Thus Martial sings 



" "^^ " No praise, no price a gilthead e'er will take. 

 Unfed with oysters of the Lucrine lake :" t 



and, according to Pliny, the mullets which savoured of their 

 food were the most prized — " laudatissimi conchylium sa- 

 piunt:j:;" and these, as saith honest Izaak Walton, "they 

 would purchase at rates, rather to be wondered at than be- 

 lieved." 



I must here digress a litde, to advert to the more direct 

 utility of the MoUusca in furnishing to the fisherman the 

 means of enticing to his snare the hapless victims of his art. On 

 every coast the shellfish peculiar to it are extensively employed 

 for this purpose, but we may confine ourselves to those used by 

 our own fishermen. At Salcomb on the coast of South Devon 

 the Pholas dactylus is found in great abundance, and is used 



* Montagu, Ornithological Dictionary, 

 f Hence Pope in his Satires^ 



" Let me extol a cat on oysters fed j 

 rU have a party at the Bedford-head." 



t [« The most prized savour of shell-fish." ] 



