'22 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



FAM. MACTRID^E. 

 MACTRA. TROUGH-SHELL. 



MACTRA SOLIDA, Linnaeus. Trough-shell. Sliell 

 thick, opaque, of a yellowish- white colour, nearly equal- 

 valved, covered at the sides with a brownish or drab- 

 coloured epidermis ; nearly triangular in form, ligament 

 short and internal ; beaks small ; a Y-shaped cardinal 

 tooth in one valve, with a long lateral tooth on each 

 side, and fitting in the opposite valve into deep grooves, 

 with tooth-like edges. 



Of the Mactridae, both Mactra solida and Mactra 

 stultorum are sometimes eaten in England, but they are 

 not considered very good, and are full of sand ; though 

 the former is eaten in Devonshire ; and Mr. Dennis 

 (as quoted by Dr. Jeffreys, in his ' British Conchology') 

 says that the people of Newhaven, near Brighton, eat 

 the Mactra stultorum also. It appears that in 1861 

 the steam dredging-machines were at work at the 

 mouth of the harbour, and that they turned up Mactra 

 stultorum in great numbers, so that the beach at high- 

 water mark was covered by them.* They live buried 

 in the sand not very far from low- water mark and at 

 no great depth from the surface. In Holland the 

 shells of Mactra stultorum are used for making roads 

 and foot-paths ; they are also burnt for lime, and the 

 fish is eaten there. According to Poli, it is known in 

 Italy by the name of Mezzana, at Naples Gongola, and 

 in the Adriatic Bibaron colorito.^ It is eaten at 

 Viareggio, with Mactra lactea, and Mactra corallina 



* * British Conchology/ vol. ii. p. 424. 



f * The Fisheries of the Adriatic,' by George L. Faber. 



