ON MOLLUSCA. 1557 
The human species, in its relations with these animals, also 
derives many advantages from them, much counterbalancing 
any annoyance which they may give us. 
We find, in fact, that a very considerable number of species 
of mollusca form a part of our nutriment, not only among demi- 
savage people, but even among civilized. The savage people 
which live on the sea-coast make great use of mollusca for 
their food, as we learn from Adanson, respecting the hordes 
which inhabit Western Africa; from Molina, regarding those 
of Chili; from Cock, Peron, and others, as to the New Hol- 
landers; and Forster, regarding the people of the South Sea 
Islands. But even in the civilized countries of Europe, the 
mollusca constitute a great portion of the food of the inha- 
bitants of our maritime coasts, especially in places where the 
population is generally poor, and where certain days of the 
week or year are consecrated by religious abstinence, as in 
Greece and Italy, particularly in the kingdom of Naples, and 
also in some parts of France. 
‘The aliment which man derives from animals of this type is 
in general agreeable to the taste, wholesome, and even excit- 
ing; but it is sometimes rather hard and indigestible, espe- 
cially when it is taken from the muscular parts which compose 
the foot, and which cannot be too much cooked. 
The bivalves appear in general to be more esteemed, and of 
a more agreeable flavour than the univalves, because they have 
a smaller quantity of muscular fibre. In fact, among the first, 
the most in request are those whose abdominal mass is 
nothing, or at least very trifling, as the oysters, the mussels, 
the lithodomi, the pholades, and especially. the teredines, 
according to the observation of Redi, who declares them to be 
much more delicate than oysters. 
As the mass which composes the body of these animals, 
especially when they are eaten raw, contains a greater or less 
quantity of sea-water, which often acts as a purge, it is not 
