48 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



Here cockled means either shelled or whorled. 



The Greek /co^X/a?, /eo^Xo?, means a snail, or a shell 

 with a spiral whorl (hence the name of " goggle " for 

 the Buccinum) ; but it is also used sometimes for a 

 bivalve shell or " cockle." Kofaidpiov is a spoon. 



Carnden, in his ' Britannia' (p. 962), in speaking of 

 Ireland, and of the commodities of the British Ocean, 

 says, "There are cockles, also in great numbers, with 

 which they dye a scarlet colour so strong and fair, 

 that neither the heat of the sun nor the violence of the 

 rain will change it, and the older it is, the better it 

 looks." Of course, the purple-fish (Purpura lapillus) is 

 here meant. 



Locke also speaks of the " oyster or cockle/' 



The Latin cochlea is properly a snail ; but cochlear 

 (cochleare, or cochlearium) , " a spoon/' or "spoonful," 

 seems to be derived from the form of a bivalve shell, 

 rather than of a snail ; it was also a measure for 

 liquids, and in medicine it still signifies a spoonful, 

 hence the Italian cucchiajo, French cuiller. Cochle- 

 arium was also used by the Romans for any small shell, 

 as in mediaeval times. Some authors, indeed, say the 

 spoon was called cochlear, not from its shape, but from 

 the pointed end or handle being used for taking the 

 snails (cochleae) out of their shells and eating them, 

 and the broader part for eating eggs, &c. This may 

 be doubted, but a spoon could scarcely .resemble a 

 snail-shell, and Martial says (xiv. 121), " Sum cochleis 

 habilis, nee sum minus utilis ovis." 



At the meeting of the Ethnological Society, March 

 4th, 1862, Mr. Gr. W. Earl gave an interesting descrip- 

 tion of the singular Malayan shell- mounds, which were 

 formed entirely of cockle-shells. He described them as 



