148 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



Almejas. — Wash the shells and put them in hot water 

 to open them. Take out the fish, and put them in a 

 saucepan on the fire with a little water ; chop two onions 

 small and fry them in butter; while stirring them about 

 dredge in slowly a little flour; add the oysters and 

 Tapes, and the water in which they were boiled. Stir 

 the whole for a few minutes over the fire, then add the 

 yolk of an egg well beaten up. Fry slices of bread in 

 butter, and place them at the bottom of the dish, pour- 

 ing the potage over them ; then serve. 



Hampshire method of Cooking Tapes. — Wash the 

 shells, then boil them for a few minutes, till the water is 

 just on the eve of boiling over. If boiled with cockles, 

 the " butterfish " must be placed in the saucepan a few 

 seconds before the cockles. They are also very good 

 eaten raw, like oysters. 



Venus verrucosa, Linnaeus, Warty Venus. — Shell 

 opaque, very solid, inequilateral, covered with concen- 

 tric edges which bend backwards, and towards the sides 

 or ends become coarser, forming knots or tubercles. 

 These ridges are divided by fine ribs or furrows, which 

 radiate from the beaks, giving them a scalloped appear- 

 ance. Umbones prominent, the beaks small and sharp, 

 the lunule distinct and heart-shaped. Ligament rather 

 long and narrow. Three teeth in each valve; the mar- 

 gins crenulated inside. Colour pale yellowish-brown. 



This coarse, rough-looking shell is found on many 

 parts of the coast of the English Channel, also in the 

 Channel Islands, and in Ireland. 



Mr. Hanley states that at Herm, near Guernsey, it is 

 collected as an article of food from the small pools be- 

 tween the rocks at low water ;* and Mr. Jeffreys says 



* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Mollusca, vol. i. p. 404. 



