32 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



may also be included in our list of ' ' edible mollusea," 

 though it is not sufficiently abundant to form any 

 more than a rare and dainty dish with us ; while in 

 the Mediterranean, it is a common species ; and ac- 

 cording to Mr. Faber,* it is also abundant in the 

 lagoons of Venice, and on the sand-banks of Grado on 

 the Austrio-Italian coast, and the shells are exported 

 for miniature painting. 



It is however, found at Hayle, Cornwall, and may 

 be gathered at the lowest spring tides. They burrow 

 in the sand, and it requires some skill and quickness 

 to catch them, as they retire so rapidly. The fisher- 

 men called them " cocks " and told me they usually 

 cooked them by boiling, but that they did not often 

 eat them. I have taken them near the mouth of the 

 river Helford, where they appear to be tolerably abun- 

 dant; and in that neighbourhood the local name given 

 to this species is the Cram. 



I was so fortunate as to procure a dozen beautiful 

 specimens from Plymouth, besides those from the 

 Helford river ; the largest measuring 2^ inches in 

 length and 3^ in breadth. The colour is a pinkish- 

 brown, with rays of a darker shade ; the epidermis is 

 of a pale horn-colour, and transparent, showing the 

 rays of the shell through, and is very glossy. The 

 shell itself is solid and opaque. Specimens sent to 

 me from the Mediterranean are the same as those 

 found on our coasts, both as to size and colouring ; 

 but this is not the case with some of our other 

 bivalves, the Isocardia Cor, for instance, attaining a 

 larger size with us, than it does in the south of 

 Europe. 



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



