258 AVICULACE^. 



This species, as Montagu observes, is not uncommonly 

 twelve inches long, and seven inches broad at the gaping 

 end. Individuals, indeed, of still larger dimensions are ob- 

 tained near Torquay, in S. Devon (S. H.). Montagu 

 discovered a bed of these shells on a gravelly bottom 

 covered with mud and long seaweeds at Salcomb bay, in the 

 same county, which was only occasionally accessible when 

 the tide receded beyond its usual limits. The valves stood 

 upright with the broader end about an inch above the sur- 

 face, and the lower end fixed so firmly to the soil by a very 

 large strong byssus two or three inches in length, composed 

 of numerous fine silky fibres of a dark purplish brown, 

 as to demand the exercise of considerable force for their 

 removal. " Some of these shells have been taken annually 

 for many years, the animal having been accounted very 

 good food ; but they require at least five or six hours 

 stewing to render them eatable ; if this is properly attended 

 to, they are nearly as good as Scallops, but never so 

 tender" (Mont.). Weymouth and Dorset coast (S. H.). 

 Off Eddystone Lighthouse (Montagu) ; Milford Haven 

 (Lyons); Hebrides (Montagu); Zetlands in deep water 

 (E. F.). Off Cape Clear in sixty fathoms dead (M'Andrew). 

 Rare on the west coast, except towards the south, where 

 all the varieties have been observed ; coasts of London- 

 derry, Antrim, and Down ; in fifty fathoms off Island 

 Magee on the Antrim coast (W. Thompson) ; Cove of 

 Cork (Humphreys, Ball). It occurs on the other Euro- 

 pean coasts.* 



* " This species," observes Couch, in his Fauna of Cornwall, " is found in the 

 greatest abundance at the distance of from three to six leagues south of the Dead- 

 man Point, where they stud the bottom in multitudes, with onlj' two or three 

 inches of the pointed end inserted into the soil. It is common for the line or hook 

 to become entangled among these shells, and powerful effort is required to drag 

 them from their attachment, which is only effected by breaking the byssus, or 



