180 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



The Ear-shell, Ormei\ Oreille de Mer, or Si-ieu (six 

 yeux), is said to take its place in the British fauna 

 solely on account of its being found in the Channel 

 Islands, where it is very abundant ; but it is still more 

 so on the coast of France, between St. Malo and Gran- 

 ville, and great quantities are brought from thence to 

 the Jersey market, which is well stocked during the 

 summer, and they are sold at the rate of sixpence a 

 dozen. They are also sold in the market at Cherbourg, 

 and said to be found on the rocks of the breakwater. 

 This celebrated shellfish has been praised by old 

 authors as a most delicate morsel. One writer speaks 

 of the Ormer, or Auris marina, as " a lump of white 

 pulp, very sweet and luscious/' and another, as 

 quoted by Professor Ansted, in his ' Channel Islands,' 

 mentions "a large shellfish, taken plentifully at low 

 tides, called an Ormond, that sticks to the rocks, whence 

 we beat them off with a forck or iron hook. 'Tis 

 much bigger than an oyster, and like that, good 

 either fresh or pickled, but infinitely more pleasant to 

 the gusto, so that an epicure would think his palate in 

 paradise if he might but always gormandize on such 

 delicious ambrosia.'" Athenaaus also tells us that the 

 toria, or ears, are most nutritious when fried. Again, 

 he says, " But otaria (and they are produced in the 

 island called Pharos, which is close to .Alexandria) are 

 more nutritious than any of the before-mentioned fish 

 (speaking of cockles, sea-urchins, pinnas, &c), but they 

 are not easily secreted. But Antigonus, the Carystian, 

 says this kind of oyster is called by the ^Eolians the 

 'Ear of Venus/"* 



Captain Beechey, in his ' Voyage to the Pacitic,' 



* Athena.'us, ' Deipu.' vol. i. bk. iii. 35, p. 146. 



