80 DR Johnston's catalogue ov bivalved shells. 



our fishernaen. On tlie rocky and exposed coast of Berwickshire it 

 rarely attains a size exceeding- one incli, but becomes very large and 

 fine in the gravelly and sandy bays which lie opposite Holy Island, 

 where it finds a supply of brackish water. The Cockle^ ( Cardium edule) 

 is gregarious in the same places, whence large quantities are annually 

 taken for sale to Berwick and the neighbouring villages. The Clams 

 {Fectenidce) are rare with us, excepting the small ohsoletus, which is the 

 favourite food of the flounder, from the stomach of which many speci- 

 mens can generally be procured. The Solenes, or Eazor-fish, and the 

 Myse abound on the sandy flats about Goswick and southward, burrow- 

 ing in the sand and gravel, but being used neither for food nor bait, 

 they are consequently not sought after. The only Oyster-bed is in the 

 channel between Holy Island and the mainland, and is the private 

 property of the Earl of Tankerville. In the inventory of the Priory 

 of Holy Island for 1381-2, we find expended for "a sloop (navicula) 

 bought of a certain Scotchman (de quodam skoto), with the oysters 

 and other goods contained in it, 100s." From the nature of the pur- 

 chase, Mr Eaine thinks it may be inferred " that there was at that 

 period no oysters to be procured at home ;" and suggests, that the 

 oysters of this very cargo were the founders of the present valuable 

 colony. {Hist. JY. Durhatn, p. 110.) The conjecture is, I believe, un- 

 founded, for not many years since, the oysters being exposed, by the 

 unusually great recess of a spring tide during the night, to a severe 

 frost, were all killed, and the bed had to be renewed from Prestonpans ; 

 and, if my information is correct, a similar accident has occurred more 

 than once during the last half century. 



None of our bivalved shells are remarkable for their brilliancy or 

 beauty. The fresh-water species are of a dirty green or horn colour, 

 while the marine are generally of a uniform dull chalky-white, often 

 covered with a brown epidermis, and sometimes marked with coloured 

 lines and spots, but less strongly than on the same shells from the 

 southern shores of our island, and greatly inferior to the sjiecimens 

 figured in our illustrated works on Conchology. The pectenes, how- 

 ever, exhibit mottled and streaked surfaces of brown, yellow, and 

 white, which is very agreeable, and hence they have been applied to 

 many articles of fancywork ; and when the outer layer of the shell of 

 the mussel is removed with care, a fine display of blue and white bands, 

 blending their irridescent hues, is exposed. The delicate valves of 

 Kellia sulorhicularis I have seen very successfully used in imitating the 

 petals of the hawthorn. 



The cloak of the pectenes deserves attention from the beauty and 



^ " On the sands of those farms (Eoss and Elwick) are very large cockles, known 

 in the country by the name of Budle-cockles : also an oyster scarp, which has long 

 been famed by those who profess an elegant taste, the oysters produced there 

 being said to excel those of every other part of the kingdom." — Hutchinson'' s Durham, 

 V. iii. p. 471. 



