NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 279 



The scallop of our coast is regarded as a delicacy. It lives 

 in shallow water, and is taken in great numbers at low tide 

 from banks which are just submerged. They move through 

 the water by opening and shutting their valves. Fossil pec- 

 tens or scallops are very abundant in most of the miocene 

 marl beds in this State. The large scallops, P. Jeffersonius 

 and P. Madisonius abound in beds upon the Neuse and Tar 

 rivers, while they are less numerous upon the Cape Fear. 

 Another large species is found upon the Meherrin, in North 

 ampton county, which I have not met with elsewhere. It 

 replaces the English species, the Pecten princeps, which it 

 closely resembles. 



PECTEN COMPARILIS. 



Shell medium size ; both valves convex with twenty-three 

 or twenty-four ribs, prominent and angular inside at base ; 

 ribs and spaces between nearly equal ; ears radiately striate. 

 One of the most common fossils upon the Cape Fear. 



PECTEN EBOREUS. (Fig. 197.) 



FIG. 197. 



