LITTORINA. 375 



hundred are often shipped by one steamer weekly. The 

 quantity exported in 1854 amounted to 400 tons, and 

 in 1855 to 459 tons. During this long period there 

 appears to have been no diminution in the supply until 

 this last season [1856] , when it is stated that they are 

 not so plentiful as formerly/'' I was lately told at 

 Kirkwall and Stromness that more than 1000 bushels 

 are exported weekly, every spring and autumn, from 

 those ports to London. At Lerwick, also, vast quanti- 

 ties are shipped by the steamer, and sent to Leith. 

 The bags are occasionally soused with sea-water during 

 the passage, in order to keep the stock alive and fresh. 

 Messrs. Baxter & Son of Billingsgate have kindly 

 furnished me with particulars of the home periwinkle 

 trade. The supply is about 2000 bushels per week for 

 six months, from March until August inclusive, and 

 about 500 bushels per week for the remaining six 

 months. The number of persons employed in gather- 

 ing is at least 1000 (chiefly women and children), and 

 quite as many more in selling. The best gathering- 

 grounds are the coasts of Scotland, Orkneys, Shetland, 

 and Ireland. The trade-price varies from two to eight 

 shillings per bushel of eight gallons heaped measure ; the 

 larger the " winkles " are, the higher the price. Those 

 gathered from rocks keep a fortnight in summer and a 

 month in winter ; mud- winkles will not live much more 

 than half that time. When the supply is greater than 

 the demand, Messrs. Baxter now and then send their 

 surplus stock to Southend, and have it laid on some 

 ground of theirs between tide-marks ; but the cost of car- 

 riage, and of gathering the stock and bringing it again 

 to market, is considerable, and it is often cheaper to 

 throw away what is unsaleable. My informants send 

 large quantities to about thirty provincial towns, and 



