86 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



found in the spring of 1862 on the beach at Dawlish, 

 some of them with the fish still alive in them ; but they 

 were all small, the size of the one figured. Other 

 localities mentioned by Forbes and Hanley are Salcomb 

 Bay (where a bed of these shells was discovered by 

 Montagu), Weymouth, all the Dorset coast, Milford 

 Haven, the Hebrides, Zetland, and in Ireland, off the 

 coasts of Londonderry, Antrim, Down, &c. ; and at 

 Youghal, where they are known by the name of "pow- 

 der-horns/' the fishermen bring in fine specimens from 

 the " Nymph Bank/'' Dr. Jeffreys was informed by 

 Mr. Spence Bate, that at Plymouth the trawlers call 

 the Pinnce, " caper-longers," which word is supposed 

 to be a corruption of cappa lunga, — the name they 

 bear in the Mediterranean ; and the familiarity of Ply- 

 mouth seamen with such Italian words is accounted for 

 by so many of our men-of-war having been at Naples. 

 They are also known in Italy by the following names : — 

 Nacherone, Madre-pema, Palostrega; and at Fiume, 

 Piede de caval. In I ranee they call them Jambonneaux; 

 in Spain, Nacre ; and in Germany, Stecmiischel. 



The Pinnce live in sand and mud, with the small 

 end downwards, in an upright position, and attached 

 by a very strong byssus of silky thread. A small 

 species of crab lives frequently in the shell of the Pinna; 

 and the following is a quaint description given by Pliny 

 of the friendship of the Pinna and its little guest : — 

 " The Pinna is also of the tribe of shellfishes. It is 

 always found in muddy places, but never without a 

 companion, which they call pinnoteves or pinnophylax, 

 and which is a little shrimp, or in some places a crab, a 

 searcher for food. The pinna first gapes open, and, being 

 destitute of sight, exposes its body within to various little 



