30 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



boiling water to open their shells, but do not let them 

 be heated more than necessary, clean them nicely, and 

 mix them with a white sauce, acidulated with lemon- 

 juice or vinegar ; use with boiled or fried fish. 



Potage of Oysters and Tapes, — Menestra de Ostras y 

 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, pouring 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 sauce- 

 pan 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 ridges which bend backwards, and towards the 

 sides or ends become coarser, forming knots or tuber- 

 cles. These ridges are divided by fine ribs or furrows, 

 which radiate from the beaks, giving them a scalloped 

 appearance. Umbones prominent, the beaks small 

 and sharp, the lunule distinct and heart-shaped. 

 Ligament rather long and narrow. Three teeth in 

 each valve; the margins crenulated inside. Colour, 

 pale yellowish-brown. 



