PREFACE 



In these clays, when attention has been so much di- 

 rected towards the cultivation of the common kinds of 

 eatable shell-fish, it is surprising that the importance 

 of certain others for food has been hitherto almost en- 

 tirely overlooked. We understand the good qualities 

 of oysters, cockles, and a few other kinds ; but some 

 equally nutritious (which are universally eaten on the 

 Continent) are seldom, if ever, seen in our markets, or 

 "are only used locally as food, and the proper modes of 

 a* cooking them are scarcely known. I have therefore 



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endeavoured to call attention to all the eatable species 



O 



r-4 common on our coasts, and also to those which, though 



q not found here in abundance, might be cultivated as 

 *■ easily as oysters, and form valuable articles of food. 



M. S. Lovell. 



