180 BUCCINUM. 



them till the}' can easilj- be taken from the shell, and then fry 

 them Avith plenty of fat or butter, till they are brown. 



Whelk Soup. — Take two onions and cut them into small dice, 

 fry them in a stewpan with some butter ; shake the pan well for 

 a few minutes, add five heads of cekny, two handfuls of spinach, 

 two cabbage lettuces cut small, and some parsle}'. Shake the 

 pan again, put in two quarts of water, some crusts of bread, a 

 teaspoonful of pepper, and a blade or two of mace. Let this 

 boil gentl}' for an hour. Boil the whelks, take them out of their 

 shells and fry them a good brown, then add them to the soup 

 and let the whole boil a few minutes, then serve. 



Another Way of making Whelk Soup. — ^Wasli the whelks well, 

 boil them and pick them out of the shells. Put an ounce of 

 butter or dripping, with some finely chopped parsley, an onion, 

 a little pepper and salt, into a saucepan, and fty it until it becomes 

 brown, adding a little flour. Then to this add a pint of water 

 or a pint and a half of milk, and when it boils place in the' 

 whelks, and a teaspoonful of anchovy. Let it boil again for half 

 an hour, then serve. 



To Dress Whelks. — Boil them till quite tender, then eat them 

 with vinegar and pepper. 



On a diminutive form of Buccinum undatum d" : Case of Natural 

 Selection. By Edw. S. Morse. (Figures 308-311.) 



The object in making this communication is to point out some 

 curious results of natui'al selection on Buccinum undatum within 

 limited areas, in which the male scarcely equalled half the length 

 of the female. 



On a ledge in the harbor of Eastport (Maine), just east of the 

 town, a small variety of Buccinum undatum occurs in great pro- 

 fusion. At the time of collecting them the sexes were pairing, 

 and in ever}' case (and hundreds were observed) the male was 

 much smaller, sometimes not exceeding half the length of the 

 female. It seemed impossible that the males could be mature, 

 and 3'et they were not only found in actual connection, but an 

 examination of the shell revealed the full number of whorls, and 

 from other well-known characters indicated the fact that they 

 were full-grown, though of diminutive size. 



