54 BlVALVliS OSTREA. 



The common scallop, Ostrea maximo, is found in most 

 European seas, in large beds, from which they are dredged- 

 upby the fishermen, and afterwards pickled and barrelled 

 for sale ; in some instances also they are brought to market 

 in the state they are caught, and are eaten fresh. 



These shells were formerly worn by pilgrims, on their 

 hat or coat, as a mark of their having crossed the sea, for 

 the purpose of paying their devotions at the holy shrine, 

 in Palestine: in commemoration of which, they are still 

 preserved in the armorial bearings of many families of 

 distinction. Scallops delight in harbouring among fuci 

 and zoophites. 



The second classor division of Ostreae consists of those 

 which in construction, substance, and coloring, are more 

 nearly allied to that sort of shell so universally known by 

 the name of the common or eatable oyster. The species 

 of this division are mostly of a much more irregular form 

 than the scallops, and are usually very rugged, unfinished 

 looking shells. The hammer oyster (Ostrea malleus) is 

 perhaps the most remarkable of all this tribe, its form 

 resembling that of a long headed hammer, or more pro- 

 perly a pick-axe ; there are two distinguishable varieties 

 of it, viz. the white and the black, both of which, whei^ 

 in fine preservation, are considered rare and valuable. 

 These shells are rough and plaited on the outside, but 

 their inside is smooth and glossy, having a steel-blue co« 

 lor or metallic lustre diffused over the surface. 



The hinge of some of the species, as the Ostrea perna 

 and isognomon, has a perpendicular grooved line at- 

 tached to it. Some, again, as the Ostrea vulsella, &c. 

 gape at the hinge; others terminate in a long beak from 

 the hinge upwards, as is the case in the Ostrea cornucopiae 

 (horn of plenty) and virghuca. Some species have aU 



