131 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



is said by M. Cailliaud to be used for food in the spring 

 (after the fish have spawned) by some of the inhabitants 

 of St. Michel-Chef-Chef, in the department of the Loire 

 Inferieure. 



The Almond Whelk, or Red Whelk as it is sometimes 

 called, Fusus antiquus, is eaten at Liverpool ; and great 

 quantities are taken on the Cheshire coast. In Dublin, 

 the fishermen use them principally for bait for the larger 

 kind of fish, such as cod and ling, and only occasionally 

 eat them boiled or pickled. The beautiful large white 

 variety is dredged off the Irish coast. My largest speci- 

 men from Dublin measures 6£ inches in length and 3£ 

 inches in breadth, and Mr. Jeffreys saw the shells used 

 as lamps in the Shetland Isles by the northern fishermen. 

 They are suspended from a nail in the wall or ceiling of 

 the hut, by means of a piece of string, which is fastened 

 round the shell in a triangular form. The inside is 

 filled with fish-oil, and a wick of cotton or tow is put 

 into the canal at the extremity of the mouth.* 



In ' Antiquitates Culinarise/ it is said that at the en- 

 thronization feast of William Warham, Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, in 1504, 8000 whelks were supplied at five 

 shillings a thousand, and they were served up as an 

 accompaniment to sturgeon; and amongst the dishes 

 forming part of the second course, we read of Sturgeon 

 in foyle with wdkes. 



In heraldry we find whelks used, and the arms of 

 Sir John Shelley, of Maresfield, in Sussex, are sable, 

 a fess engrailed between three whelk-shells or. The 

 Shellys of Lincolnshire bear, argent a chevron gules, 

 between three whelks sable ;t and the crest of Venables 



* Jeffreys' 'British Conchotomy,' vol. i. p. lxviii. Introduction. 

 + Burke's ' General Armorie.' 



