24 JANUAKY. 



white ; some white with a crimson line along the summit 

 of each radiating ridge ; some rosy, crimson, or lilac ; some 

 cream, straw-yellow, deep yellow ; some dull brick-red, 

 dark purplish -red, or sienna-brown ; some are marbled 

 with black on a red ground, making a very rich pattern. 



The largest specimens, and those with greatest variety 

 in hue, are found in deep water, and for the most part 

 congregated in large numbers on some particular spot 

 of the sea-bottom, which is called a scallop-bed. Such 

 are found in Weymouth Bay, and in Torbay ; and there 

 the shell-fish can be obtained in sufficient quantity for 

 the market. At Weymouth there is a considerable 

 business done in these delicacies, which is, however, 

 almost all in the hands of one dealer, from whom I have 

 collected some details of interest. 



The ordinary trawlers avoid the scallop-beds, if pos- 

 sible, because they are liable to have their nets torn by 

 them ; the sharp valves doubtless catching and cutting 

 the meshes. But they often bring up many uninten- 

 tionally, and a naturalist would find a trawler's refuse 

 a most productive field : for numbers of rare and valu- 

 able zoophytes and other forms of life come up attached 

 to the shells, which might easily be saved, but are not : 

 the men " have no time, for they are so anxious to get 

 their craft into a berth, and then to take out the fish as 

 soon as the trawl is up." 



