CONCHTFERA. 



411 



771, 



Pecten, 0. F. Miiller. Scallop. 



'Etymology, 'peden, a comb. 



Type, P. maximus (Janii'a, Scliiiin.) 



Synonyms, Argus, Poll. Discites, ScU. Amusium, Muhlfeldt. 



Shell sub -orbicular, regular, resting on tbe right valve, 

 usually ornamented with radiating ribs ; beaks approximate, 

 eared ; anterior ears most prominent ; posterior side a little 

 oblique ; right valve most convex, with a notch below the front 

 ear ; hinge-margins straight, united by a narrow ligament ; 

 cartilage internal, in a central pit ; adductor impression double, 

 obscure ; pedal imj)ression only in the left valve, or obsolete 

 (Fig. 210). 



Animal with the mantle quite open, its margins double, the 

 inner pendent like a curtain 

 (m) finely fringed ; at its 

 base a row of conspicuous 

 round black eyes [ocelli) sur- 

 rounded by tentacular fila- 

 ments ; gills {hr) exceed- 

 ingly delicate, crescent- 

 shaped, quite disconnected 

 posteriorly, having separate 

 excurrent canals ; lips folia- 



ceous ; palpi truncated, plain outside, striated within ; 

 finger-like, grooved, byssiferous in the young. 



The Scallop (P. maximus) and " quin " (P. opercularis) 2crQ 

 esteemed delicacies ; the latter covers extensive banks, es^jecially 

 on the north and west of Ireland, in 15 to 25 fathoms water. 

 The scallop ranges from 3 — 40 fathoms ; its body is bright orange, 

 or scarlet, the mantle fawn-colour, marbled with brown ; the 

 shell is used for "scalloping" oysters, formerly it was em- 

 ployed as a drinking-cup, and celebrated as such in Ossian's 

 "hall of shells." An allied species has received the name of 

 "St. James's shell" (P. Jacohoeus); it was worn by pilgrims 

 to the Holy Land, and became the badge of several orders of 



knighthood, t 



Most of the Fedens spin a byssus when young, and some, 

 like P. varius, do so habitually ; P. niveus moors itself to the 

 fronds of the tangle (Laminaria). 



* The Pectens do not open so wide as here represented; their " curtains " remain 

 in contact at one point on the posterior side, separating the branchial from the exhalen* 

 currents. 



t Wlien the monks of the ninth century converted the fisherman of Gennesaret into 

 a Spanish warrior, they assigned him the sceillop-shell for his "cognizance." (Moule'a 

 " Heral(.u-y of Fish.") 



T 2 



Fig. 216. Pecten varius.* 



foot 



