THE VARIABLE SCALLOP 43 



against the bottom of the rocks, you may very 

 likely come upon quite a large cluster of these 

 curious creatures. 



Horse mussels are not used for food as common 

 mussels are, because they have a very strong 

 and unpleasant taste. 



PLATE XV 



THE VARIABLE SCALLOP (l) 



A good many different kinds of scallops are 

 found on our shores. One of them the Common 

 Scallop is as large as the palm of a man's hand, 

 and is used for food. You may often see it in 

 fishmongers' shops. But you are not at all likely 

 to find its empty shells lying on the shore, for 

 it lives in rather deep water. You may find those 

 of the Variable Scallop, however, very often in- 

 deed in places where the shore is sandy. It is 

 called the " variable " scallop because it varies so 

 much in colour that one hardly ever sees two of 

 its shells which are quite alike. Sometimes they 

 are crimson, sometimes pink, sometimes mauve, 

 sometimes dark yellow, sometimes golden yellow, 

 and sometimes blotched and mottled with diffe- 

 rent colours. A number of ridges run down the 

 shell from the hinge to the margin, and on each 

 of these is a row of short spikes; so that the 

 animal looks something like a tipsy-cake ! 



