THE OCEAN WORLD. 



our whole coast. The far-famed Pandores obtained at Prestonpans, 

 near Edinburgh, once so cheap, are becoming scarce and dear. The 

 brood is caught and barreled for export to Holland and other places, 

 especially the Thames oyster farms. English buyers pick the grown 

 oysters for Manchester and other large provincial markets ; and the 

 Corporation of Edinburgh, the Duke of Buccleuch, and other 

 proprietors of the foreshore, have just interfered in time to prevent 

 the total destruction of the trade, when the wild song of the 

 Cockenzie dredgerman might have been left to charm some future 

 antiquary, as it is now said to charm the oyster into the dredge with 

 its refrain : 



" The herring it loves the merry moonlight, 



The mackerel it loves the wind ; 

 But the oyster it loves the dredger's song, 

 For it comes of a gentle kind." 



jrii *vi srtT .aiofiru :(i-oiib* pdj ibm'// 



The Scallop-shell (Pecten varius] is round, nearly equal-sided, 

 resting on the right valve, which is more convex, and marked with 

 radiating ribs. Linnaeus made the mistake of confounding with the 

 Ostrca a great number of shells, which, by their channeled edges and 

 surfaces, strongly reminded one of the arrangements of the teeth of 

 a comb, whence their name of Pecten. They were well known to 

 naturalists long before the time of Linnaeus, under the name of 

 Pilgrims' shells, a name which came into use from the practice which 

 prevailed among pilgrims in the middle ages we know not why of 

 ornamenting their habits and hats with the valves of some of the 

 species. 



The shell of the species of Pecten is in general nearly circular, 

 more or less elongated, and terminated towards the summit in a 

 straight line, forming a sort of triangular appendage called the ear, to 

 which the hinges are attached. The valves are very regular, but 

 with no resemblance to each other. In some species, the shell of 

 which is closely shut, the lower valve is more or less convex than the 

 upper one. In others, both valves are convex. The hinge is without 

 teeth, and the ligament, which is intended to close the shell, is in- 

 serted into a triangular depression or dimple. The retractile muscles 

 are unequal, and nearly central. The valves are not nacred inside, 

 and are formed on their exterior surface of numerous fluted channels, 

 which spring from a lobe more or less pointed at the summit, 

 diverging towards the circumference. The edges are sometimes 

 smooth, as in the Watered Pecten (P. pseudamussium, Fig. 174), but 

 more frequently they are formed in strips or scales, as in the Smooth- 

 shelled Pecten (P. glaber, Fig. 175). Upon the whole, however,, the 



