. PSAMMOBIA. 19 



its contents, for the farmers, who use it as manure ; 

 and that out of the heaps of sand, &c., formed on the 

 quay, the Psammobia and other shells are collected. 

 It is only a locally abundant species ; but is generally 

 diffused. Large richly-coloured specimens are found 

 in Birterbury Bay, Connemara ; and Cornwall, Devon, 

 Dorset, Northumberland, Pembrokeshire, Firth of 

 Forth, and the Channel Isles, are a few of the localities 

 given by Dr. Jeffreys. 



Athenaeus* states that Tellinidaa were very common 

 at Canopus, and abound when the Nile begins to rise, 

 and that the thinnest of these were the royal ones, 

 which were digestible and light. For fish- sauces, both 

 the Psammobia and the Donax, or Wedge-shell (which 

 belongs to the Tellinidae also), might be substituted 

 instead of cockles ; and, indeed, a species of the latter, 

 which with us is very rare, viz., Donax trunculus, is 

 sold in the markets at Naples, and is said by Poli to 

 be one of the best kinds of shellfish, both for making 

 sauce and for seasoning small rolls of bread. I have 

 often watched the women at Viareggio fishing for the 

 Donax and the Mactridae. They dress themselves in 

 their husbands' or brothers' old garments, and stand in 

 the water to the waist. They use a kind of net made of 

 a piece of thin light wood, oval-shaped at one end and 

 straight at the other. This is surrounded on the upper 

 side by a small frame-work about six to eight inches 

 deep, except at the straight end, and covered with sail- 

 cloth or some such material, to keep in the sand and 

 shells. To this is attached a wooden handle about four 

 to five feet in length. They hold the net before them in 



* ' Athen. Deipn.' vol. i. bk. iii. c. 40. 



c 2 



