Mr. Patterson on the Common Limpet. 2.3.5 



It may be remarked, that almost no limpets are collected 

 there on the Sundays or during severe weather. On the other 

 hand, there are women and children who are in the habit of 

 coming frequently to the rocks and collecting for their own 

 use. The extra quantity withdrawn in the latter way, may 

 fairly counterbalance the diminished consumption occasioned 

 by the recurrence of the former causes ; so that all these con- 

 siderations may perhaps, without much error, be excluded 

 from the following calculation. 



Assuming that the smaller number of persons is the more 

 correct, we have this year (1337) thirty individuals employed 

 for four months or one hundred and twenty days, and selling 

 daily four quarts of limpets. The total quantity thus sold 

 would be 14,400 quarts, which at three halfpence per quart 

 would amount to 83/. 15s. As however the rate at the com- 

 mencement of the season was two pence, and that price was 

 always obtained for " horned*" limpets, and for those sold in 

 the country, the money actually realized would exceed 100/. 



Three quarts of the boiled limpets were found by a friend 

 to weigh 5 lb. 2 oz. Five quarts weighed in my presence gave 

 9 lbs. The average of our two trials gave a weight of 1 lb. 1 2 oz. 

 to each quart. According to these data, the actual weight sold 

 this season, would be 25,200 lbs. or eleven and a quarter tons. 



The weight as carried from the beach is however much 

 greater, for in addition to that of the animal, there is that of 

 the shell, and of a small quantity of sea-water which it con- 

 tains. I found that while five quarts of limpets weighed 9 lbs. 

 the shells of the same " fish" weighed 13 lbs. making the total 

 weight of the animals and their shells 22 lbs. If therefore 9 lbs. 

 of the limpets amount with their shells to 22 lbs., the total 

 quantity as before stated, 25,200 lbs. would give an aggregate 

 of 61,600 lbs., or twenty seven and a half tons. 



If we wish to know however the actual weight of the mol- 

 lusca and their shells removed from the coast, we must recol- 

 lect that whelks or periwinkles (Turbo littoreus, Linn.) are col- 

 lected along with the limpets. These are sold in their shells 



* The process of " horning " consists in seizing the head, from which, when 

 boiled, the tentacula or " horns" invariably project, and pulling it from the 

 body with the intestinal canal attached, thus freeing " the fish " from all im- 

 purities. 



Ann. Nat. Hist. Vol. 3. No. If. J«0*e 1839. s 



