"Winkles;" Habits, Distribution, Species of. 213 



The Periwinkle Family (Littorinidce) . The Periwinkles, 

 or " winkles," are of considerable economic value in our fishery 

 industries. They are well known browsers of algse, hence as 

 vegetable feeders, wanderers for pastures new, and even some- 

 what gregarious in habit, they represent the ruminants among 

 the shell-fish. Three kinds, apart from varieties, inhabit the 

 littoral of the District quite up to, or even beyond, high-water 

 mark. The sexes are separate, and one species (L. rudis) 

 brings forth its young alive, like the eel pout among fishes. 

 They, often together, frequent nearly the same grounds, and to 

 the fisher one and other pass without distinction as " winkles" 

 for edible purposes. They are spread less or more all round 

 the coast, equally grazing among the sea-weeds in the rock- 

 pools from Sandgate on towards Dover as on the flatter 

 grounds in other parts of Kent and Essex. In all the estuaries 

 they are very plentiful, particularly the common " winkle." 

 On the Thames and Blackwater especially there are numbers 

 of " winklers " kept busily at work during various times of the 

 year, and this sometimes when other occupation is temporarily 

 suspended by inclemency of weather and other causes. (See 

 further, Sect. VI., "Winkling.") 



(1) The BLUNT PERIWINKLE (Littorina obtusata) is the scarcest 

 and smallest of the three, being little more than half-an-inch 

 in diameter. It is nut-shaped, big-mouthed, squat spired, 

 hence its name, and only accidentally gets mixed with the 

 common periwinkle as food product. (2) The ROUGH PERI- 

 WINKLE (L. rudis) is got much more frequently. Like the last, 

 the female is largest, and what is most unusual among 

 mollusks, it bears living (viviparous) progeny, as Boys fully a 

 century ago showed was the case in Kent specimens. It 

 breeds during summer and far into the autumn. They seldom 

 overstep 1 in. by f in. in diameters, are variously coloured, and 

 may occasionally get amongst market produce. 



(3) The COMMON PERIWINKLE (L. littorea) is by far the most 

 numerous, and par excellence furnishes our staple " winkle " 



