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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



done its work, when they will be found to have shrunken to less 

 than the original size ; hence it is best to avoid the white meats 

 if possible. It is probable that the price for the unwatered scal- 

 lops would be better if all snippers would agree to stop the prac- 

 tice, and then all scallops would be " Rhode Islands," although 

 market men say that some from that State are watered. The 

 practice is a bad one, because it injures the sale of the meats, as 

 may be seen by comparing the prices in the markets. The scal- 

 lop is never shipped alive in the shell, because it breaks easily 



Loading a Wagon. 



and does not live more than a day or two out of the water ; be- 

 sides, being so bulky, the freight would be higher. 



Fried with bacon is the most popular way this mollusk is 

 served, although it is occasionally broiled or stewed, and in New 

 York restaurants the order, " Fry, half and half," is often given, 

 which means oysters and scallops, or it is sometimes " A fry, 

 half scallops," for "a fry" is supposed to mean oysters alone. 

 It is only some forty years since the scallop has been known in 

 the markets and became an object of pursuit by the fishermen. 

 Dr. De Kay, although living at Oyster Bay, on Long Island, knew 

 little of it as food, for in his Mollusca, Part V, Zoology of New 

 York, 1843, he says : " It abounds on shallow sandy bottoms and 

 is taken in great quantities for food, the broad and stout mus- 

 cular portion being the only part of the animal used. This is 

 boiled and put in vinegar, and considered by many as a great 



