Quarterly Journal of Conchology. 45 



according to Montagu ; and on the Dorset coast the fishermen call 

 them "sqninns," In the JSTorth of France, one kind bears the name 

 of "vanneau" or ^'•olivette,'' and another species {P. maximus) h ?a\ 

 article of food. Of the latter, Jefirey, a British conchologist, says : "If 

 the oyster is the king of mollusks, this has a jiist claini to the rank 

 and title of prince." In the fish markets of the north of France, it is 

 called ^^grand-pelerine,'' " gofiche" or "palourde." In the south of 

 England, it shares with another species the name of " frill," and in 

 the north that of "clam." 



This species {P. maximus), Jefii-ey says, was formerly "plentiful 

 iii Lulwoi-th Bay, on the Dorset coast ; but now they are rai'ely found 

 alive. I was told that the breed had been exterminated there by an 

 epicurean officer of the coast-guard. The late Major Martin would 

 l)ei-mit any conchologist to dredge as much as he pleased in the bays 



of the Connemara coast, provided he only took useless shells, but 



all the big clams {P. maximus) were reserved for the table at Bally- 

 nahinch Castle." The high reputation of this species causes it to be 

 much sought after, and it " is a constant visitant of the London mar- 

 kets. Scalloped with bread-crumbs in its own shell, or fried ^vith a 

 little butter and pepper, it forms a very delicious morsel." 



The Pecten irradians is the common species on the coast of New Eng- 

 land. In the winter the " meats " are sold in the Boston market by 

 the quart, and are called " scallops." They are obtained on the shores 

 of Rhode Island. It is somewhat singular that the San Diego scallop 

 has not been introduced into the San Francisco markets ; it will be, 

 undoubtedly, in the course of a few years. It may, however, be less 

 palatable than those above referred to, as all the species named inhabit 

 waters that have a much lower temperature during the greater part 

 of the year than the sea at San Diego. 



The scallops are, and have been, esteemed for food and other pur- 

 poses by the aboriginal tribes, as well as by their civilized successors. 

 In the shell-heaps of Florida, among the KjoeJclcenoeddings, or kitchen- 

 refuse, we find gi'eat niimbers of these shells, especially in a heap at 

 Cedar Keys ; and the shells of some of the west American species, 

 found in Puget Sound, are now used by the Indians of that neigh- 

 bourhood, for in the ethnological depai-tment of the Smithsonian 

 Institution atWashington (specimens 4773-4-5) are rattles made of valves 

 of the Pecten hastatus, which were used by the Makali Indians in the 

 vicinity of ISTeeah Bay in their dances ; and another specimen (No. 1 034\ 

 is a rattle made from the convex valves of a larger species (Peetan 

 caurinus) and fox^merly used as a medicine rattle. These rattles are 



