Oysters and Scallops 83 



of its riglit valve to its support, its further growth 

 proceeds unequally ; so that the distorted appearance 

 ensues which has suo^o^ested the title of Hunchback 

 as a fitting one, though Linnaeus called it j^usio (a 

 youngster), from what he evidently regarded as its 

 immature or unexpanded appearance. In its early 

 and regular condition the shell is longer from back 

 to front, like the other species, but as maturity 

 comes to it the distance from beaks to lower 

 margin becomes greater than the length. The 

 valves, too, that had formerly been equal in size, 

 now become unequal, the upper often larger and 

 more convex than the lower. The sculpture consists 

 of larger and smaller sharp ribs, which alternate, 

 and in an adult number about 70, here and there 

 rising into prickly scales. It ranges tlirough all 

 shades of colour, from white through yellow 

 and red to brown, streaked and blotched w^th 

 other tints of the same series. The posterior ear 

 is larger than the other; and the ocelli are few 

 in number. It may be found where the coast 

 is rocky, ranging from 5 to 85 fathoms. 



The Variegated Scallop (P. varius) 

 has only from 25 to 30 ribs of equal 

 thickness, often bearing blunt thorn- 

 like plates on their upper sides. 

 The ears are unequal, the hinder one 

 being the larger. Its colour and 

 markings are much like those of the 

 Hunchback, but its ocelli — of which ^anegated scaiiop 

 there are about 30 — are smaller than 

 in that species. It is well distributed all along our 

 coasts, from extreme low water to a depth of 40 fathoms. 



