PECTINID^. SCALLOP. 101 



wash, and beard 4 dozen of oysters (or scallops), re- 

 serving their liquor in a pan. Put 4 oz. of butter into 

 a stewpan, to barely dissolve over the fire ; mix in 4 oz. 

 of flour; moisten with a pint and a half of good white 

 stock or milk ; season with nutmeg, and a pinch of 

 cayenne, and a teaspoonful of anchovy ; add half a pint 

 of cream ; stir over the fire for a quarter of an hour's 

 gentle boiling, and then, having cut the oysters (or scal- 

 lops) each into halves, pour the hot soup over them in 

 the tureen." 



" To Cook Scallops, or c Leitrigens,' Donegal fashion. 

 — Place them on a gridiron in the shells, with a piece of 

 lighted turf-coal placed on the upper shell; when cooked, 

 eat them with butter and pepper." 



Gwillim, in his ' Heraldry/ says that (according to 

 Dioscorides) the escallop is " ingendred of the dew and 

 the air, and hath no blood at all in itself; notwithstand- 

 ing, in man's body, (of any other food) it turneth soonest 

 into blood," and adds, " the eating of this fish raw is said 

 to cure surfeit." 



Pecten maximus, Linnaeus. Great Scallop. — Shell 

 suborbicular ; valves very dissimilar, the upper one eon- 

 cave at the umbones ; the under valve very convex ; 

 strong ribs, 15 or 16 in number; rather broad, and dis- 

 tinctly striated ; auricles large, nearly equal ; hinge 

 without teeth ; ligament internal, placed in a triangular 

 recess. 



The great edible scallop, though generally distributed 

 in our seas, is only locally abundant. At Eastbourne 

 and Brighton numbers are brought in by the fishing 

 boats, and in the spring, during the prevalence of the 

 easterly gales, live specimens may be found on the beach 

 at Dawlish. The London markets are supplied from 



