188 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



well as Vignot or Vignette, and Bigorneau. In Brittany 

 it is called, as elsewhere observed, Vrelin, or Brelin ;* 

 and the Spanish Dame for it is Minchas. Few persons 

 who have paid a visit to the seaside can have failed to 

 remark this common shell, which, at low tide, may be 

 seen crawling over the tangled masses of seaweed. 

 Many pleasant hours do children pass in gathering 

 basketfuls of periwinkles, taking them home and boil- 

 ing them, and enjoying a hearty meal, with the 

 accompaniment of good thick slices of bread-and-butter. 



Periwinkles vary much in colour, some being of a 

 dark olive-green, nearly black, or of a pale greenish- 

 white, like the specimen figured ; and others red or 

 rufous-brown, with narrow bands of smoke colour. 

 Varieties of form also occur, and I procured from 

 Exmouth two curious specimens, with the whorls 

 angular and the edges sharp, instead of rounded. 



Athenaaus, in his ' Deipnosophists/ mentions several 

 kinds of periwinkles. He says, " Of the periwinkle, 

 the white are the most tender, and they have no dis- 

 agreeable smell, .... but of the black and red kinds 

 the larger are exceedingly palatable, especially those 

 that are caught in the spring. As a general rule all of 

 them are good for the stomach, and digestible when 

 eaten with cinnamon and pepper. " 



There is a large consumption of these little mollusks 

 in London ; and Billingsgate market is supplied from 

 various parts of the British coast; the largest supply is 

 in May and June, and they sell at one shilling a measure. 

 Mr. Patterson, of Belfast, states, in his ' Introduction 

 to Zoology,' that quantities of periwinkles are annually 

 shipped from Belfast for London, and in 1861 the 

 * • British Conchology,' vol. iii. p. 371. 



