Mr. Lovett on the Edible MoHusca. 11 



muscular structure of aquatic larvae, as we then get the solidity 

 of illumination on a black ground, with the colouring of the 

 different sets of muscles ; the muscles which move the large 

 sickle-shaped mandibles of the larv« of the various water- 

 beetles are particularly well worth examination by this method. 

 I am afraid my Paper has been of somewhat a rambling 

 nature, but shall be content if it has done service in showing 

 that plenty of interesting microscopic organisms are to be found 

 in ponds within the scope of an ordinary walk from Croydon, 

 and that they may be examined with ease by such apparatus as 

 our members generally possess. 



44. — The Edible Mollusca, or Shell-fish of the British 



Islands. [Abstract.] 



By Edward Lovett. 

 (Bead September 10th, 1884.) 



One of the great results of scientific work is to produce some 

 good for the benefit of mankind ; we see this in so large a 

 number of instances that it is utterly needless to refer to any but 

 the one before us, namely, the question of our food supply as 

 derived fi-om the sea. 



The great International Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 teemed 

 with examples of the way in which science was tending, not only 

 to instruct in the way to draw our food supply from our seas and 

 rivers, but also how to cultivate, so to speak, the particular 

 species and sorts that are more especially valuable as articles 

 of food. 



At first sight it would appear as if the shell-fish or mollusca, 

 such as whelks, mussels, &c., formed a very small and unim- 

 portant section of marine food supply ; but this is far from being 

 the case, for, although the majority of molluscs are seldom eaten 

 except by the poor, or by fishermen and their families, yet they 

 are of enormous value wherewith to catch valuable fish on the 

 deep sea night lines. 



To give a slight idea of this value, I may mention that Great 

 Grimsby is stated to supply 3,180,000 quarts of whelks annually, 

 value £22,500, of which l-25th is used as food, and the 

 remaining 24-25t]is as bait for cod, Img, and haddock. But it 

 is not so much as regards their use for bait, but as regards their 

 value as food themselves, that I have written this paper. 



I am inclined to believe that molluscs fonned one of the 

 earliest kinds of food of prehistoric man, that is for those who 

 were not vegetarians ; for abundant evidence still exists all over 



