MOLLUSCA. 223 
There are several bivalve shells, besides those which we 
have mentioned, employed on our coasts as articles of sub- 
sistence. The Scallop ( Pecten) was held in high estima- 
tion by the ancients, and still is sought after in Catholic 
countries. The Pecten maximus is frequently used in Eng- 
land. It is found gregarious in moderately deep water, 
and is taken up by the dredge. It is pickled and barrelled 
for sale, and esteemed a great delicacy. The fishermen 
suppose that they are taken in the greatest quantity after a 
fall of snow. Another species, the Pecten opercularis, is 
employed for culinary purposes in Cornwall, where it is 
known by the name of Frills or Queens. In the Firth of 
Forth this species is frequently dredged up along with oys- 
ters, but it is thrown, by the Newhaven fishermen, to the 
dunghill, along with sea urchins and star-fish. To this list 
we might add the Mactra solida, which is used as food by 
the common people about Dartmouth ; and the Venus pul- 
lastra, called by the inhabitants of Devonshire, Pullet, and 
eaten by them, and known to the inhabitants of the North- 
ern Islands by the name of Cullyock, and there used as a 
bait. According to Bruguiere, the Anomia ephippium is 
used as food at Languedoc, and is there considered as pre- 
ferable to the oyster.—But it is now time that we turn our 
attention to the univalve shells, in order to ascertain their 
value in an economical point of view. 
The common Periwinkle (Turbo littoreous) is, in this 
country, more extensively used as food than any of the other 
testaceous univalves. This shell is easily gathered, as it is 
found on all our rocks which are left uncovered by the ebb- 
ing of the tide. Children are principally employed in this 
fishery, and the shells are sold by measure. They are in 
general used after being plainly boiled, and are consumed 
