SOLENID^E. RAZOR-SHELL. 15 



" And Sophron says, in his ' Mimi/ — 



" A. What are these long cockles, O my friend, 

 Which you do think so much of? 

 B. Solens, to be sure; 



This, too, is the sweet-flesh 'd cockle, dainty food, 

 The dish much loved by widows." * 



Epicharrnus, in his play of the ' Marriage of Hebe/ 

 mentions the oblong solens. 



Again, Athenasus says, — "But the solens, as they 

 are called by some, though some call them avXot and 

 Bova/ces, or pipes, and some, too, call them ovules , or 

 claws, are very juicy, but the juice is bad, and they are 

 very glutinous. And the male fish are striped, and 

 not all of one colour, but the female fish is all of one 

 colour, and much sweeter than the male ; and they are 

 eaten boiled and fried, but they are best of all when 

 roasted on the coals till their shells open. And the 

 people who collect this sort of oyster are called Solenistce, 

 as Phasnias the Eresian relates in his book, which is 

 entitled ' The Killing of Tyrants by way of Punish- 

 ment ;' where he speaks as follows: — 'Philoxenus, 

 who was called the Solenist, became a tyrant from 

 having been a demagogue. In the beginning he got 

 his living by being a fisherman and a hunter after 

 solens; and so, having made a little money, he advanced 

 and got a good property.'' " 



On some parts of our shores great quantities of 

 razor-shells are collected, sometimes by putting a little 

 salt on the holes, which irritates the fish, and makes it 

 rise to the surface ; and again in the following manner, 

 as described by Messrs. Forbes and Hanley : — " A long 

 narrow wire, bent and sharpened at the end, is sud- 



* Athenseus, vol. i. b. iii. p. 144, Bonn's Classical Library. 



