20 CARDIAD^. 



are variable in colour, white, yellow, or brownish-red, 

 sometimes speckled with black spots or markings, and they 

 are clothed with scattered filaments, as well as the mantle 

 near their bases. The foot is long and cylindrical, but not 

 so large in proportion to the shell as in most of the Cardla, 

 geniculated, and of a white or yellow colour, passing to a 

 deeper hue, often brown or light orange towards its some- 

 what lanceolate extremity. The branchiae are pale-brown 

 and suboval, the upper lamina being smallest ; and the 

 palps are triangular, rather long, acute, and of a reddish- 

 brown hue. 



The edible Cockle is a gregarious animal, inhabiting sands 

 at low-water, and met with on most parts of our coast, 

 especially where there are sufficient tracts of sand, and in 

 the neighbourhood of estuaries ; though the largest speci- 

 mens are chiefly found away from the influence of fresh 

 w^ater, as in the Scilly Isles (M'Andrew), the north coast 

 of Devon (Jeffreys), the Hebrides, and Zetland. The 

 variety most common in our markets rarely exceeds an 

 inch and four-fifths in length by an inch and a half in 

 breadth, and comes, in most cases, from estuary sands, 

 those of the Mersey being especially prolific. Everywhere 

 this excellent mollusk is sought after for food, and it is one 

 of the most savoury of its tribe ; indeed, preferred by many 

 persons to the oyster. It is equally good raw and cooked, 

 dressed either by roasting or boiling, and gives a delicious 

 flavour to fish sauce. Cockles are also often pickled, as 

 the readers of Ingoldsby's treasured story of the Bald- 

 headed Jackdaw will not readily forget. In times of 

 scarcity they have afforded valuable supplies of food for the 

 poor, and in the Zetland Isles bushels of their shells may 

 be seen near cottages. Lieut. Thomas informs us tiiat in 

 Sanda, among the Orkney Isles, during the late fiiilure of 



