136 



Fam. LITTOPJNIDvE. 

 LITTORINA.— PERIWINKLE. 



Littorina littorea, Linnseus. Periwinkle. — Shell 

 spiral, solid ; whorls six or seven in number, covered with 

 longitudinal striae ; apex very pointed ; aperture nearly 

 round and large ; pillar lip flat, broad, and white ; 

 outer lip sharp, sometimes white, and occasionally 

 showing the colour of the exterior of the shell through. 

 Interior of the shell a dark brown. Operculum dark 

 horn-colour. 



In Anglo-Saxon, the periwinkle is called sea-sncegl, 

 or sea-snail; in Ireland, the horse- winkle and shellimidy 

 forragy, and at Belfast, whelks; in Cornwall, give an ; 

 and in the north, corvins ; and the French give it the 

 name of sabot, or wooden shoe, as well as viynot or vi- 

 gnette, and bigomeau. In Brittany it is called, as else- 

 where observed, vrelin or brelin;* and few persons who 

 have paid a visit to the seaside can have failed to re- 

 mark this common shell, which, at low tide, may be seen 

 crawling over the tangled masses of seaweed. Mauy 

 pleasant hours do children pass in gathering basketfuls 

 of periwinkles, taking them home and boiling them, and 

 enjoying a hearty meal, with the accompaniment of good 

 thick slices of bread-and-butter. Periwinkles vary much 

 in colour, some being of a dark olive -green, nearly black 

 or of a pale greenish-white, like the specimen figured; 

 and others red or rufous-brown, with narrow bands of 

 smoke colour. Varieties of form also occur, and I pro- 

 cured from Exmouth two curious specimens, with the 

 whorls angular and the edges sharp, instead of rounded. 

 * Jeffreys' Brit. Conch, yol. iii. p. 371. 



