9 o THE FISHERIES OF THE ADRIATIC, 



not consumed everywhere as food, for instance, at Ancona, although caught 

 there in large quantities ; in France they are eaten and are also used for 

 bait. The shells of the CytJierea chiouc, L. (Issolone), and the Unio pictorum 

 ( Unionc, or Sbadiglia dei pittori, vulgo Caparone d' aequo, dolce, Cucchiarella), 

 are used as painters' pallets ; those of the Pecten jacobceus (L.), as ornaments 

 by the pilgrims to S. Iago di Compostella and other places, whence the 

 name of Capa sauta. 1 



The univalves are very numerous on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, 

 but are much inferior in quality to the bivalves, and are, as a rule, eaten only 

 by the poorer classes. 



Those which most deserve notice are : species of Trochus {Caragolo, 

 Neridola) ; Turbo rugosus [Occkio di Santa Lucia) ; Cassidaria tyrrhena 

 (Porcelletta) ; Cerithium vulgatum {Caragolo longo, Campanari) ; Murex 

 brandaris (Garusoli), attached to the shells of which is generally found an 

 Actinia cffa?ta ; Murex t run cuius {Garusoli), the species which is supposed to 

 have supplied the purple of the Romans; Aporrhais pes pelicani {Zania- 

 rugolo); Haliotis tubcrculata (Orecchio di San Pietro, "St. Peter's ear"); 

 species of Fissurella and Patella {Pantalend). The shells of Turbo rugosus 

 and Trochus adriaticus are made use of as women's ornaments {Caragoletti 

 da galantcric). The nudibranchs are not eaten. 



Of the tunicates may be mentioned Cynthia microcosmus, called Sponga 

 mangiabile by misapplication. They are found on hard beds in open, shallow 

 waters, generally in company of the arch shells, together with which they 

 are usually caught from November to March by means of the Mussolcra. 

 After removing the outside coating, or mantle, the inside, resembling the 

 yellow of an egg, but tasting somewhat bitter, is eaten either raw by the 



1 See Capt. Burton's account of the Legend of St. James, in " Camoens : his Life and his 

 Lusiads," vol. i. p. 207. "... . and during' the height of his (the Saint's) fame, a hundred 

 thousand ' Saint Jaque's pilgrims,' many of them English, who preferred it even to Canterbury and 

 her ' holy blisful martir,' made pious visitations to ' Sanctus Jacobus Apostola ' (Compostella). 

 The cockle-shell was the badge of this tribe, as the palm was of the ' palmer,' or Jerusalem 

 pilgrim. Our ' remember the grotto ' is connected with St. James " 



