216 THE SPINOUS COCKLES. 



courtesy of friends, I have yet a few more notes to 

 add to the zoological portion of this volume. The chief 

 of these collections were sent to me by Mr. William 

 Thompson from Weymouth, and by the Rev. C. 

 Kingsley from Torquay ; and to these gentlemen, as 

 well as to other friends who have aided me, I beg 

 thus to express my greatest obligations. 



THE SPINOUS COCKLES. 



Among a number of animals of great interest, sent 

 to me in January from the vicinity of Torquay, by 

 the courtesy of the Eev. C. Kingsley, were a posse of 

 Cockles : not the plebeian sort, that boys with sten- 

 torian lungs cry about the streets of sea-port towns 

 at " two-pence a quart," but those giants, Cardium 

 aculeatum and C. tuberculatum^ the real aristocracy 

 of the cockle kind. The favour of the kind donor 

 was the greater, as the sands of Livermead and 

 Paignton, whence these were procured, are almost the 

 only British locality for the species, especially for 

 the latter, which is among the rarest as well as the 

 finest of our native bivalves. 



They looked healthy when turned out of the jar, 

 though they had performed their journey up in that 

 bitter, almost Arctic weather, that we had at the 

 beginning of January ; and, under the excitement of 

 the genial atmosphere of the parlour, they presently 

 grew quite frisky. Many persons are aware that the 

 Common Cockle can perform gymnastic feats of no 

 mean celebrity, but the evolutions of Signor Tuber- 

 culato are worth seeing. Some of the troupe I had 

 put into a pan of sea- water, others I had turned out 



