38 EDIBLE BIVALVES. . 



they use the large Cardium aculeatum and C. rusticum, 

 which abound on the Paignton sands, where, at low spring- 

 tides, they may be observed with the fringed tubes appearing 

 just above the surface. The neighbouring cottagers, who call 

 them red noses, gather them in baskets and panniers, and after 

 cleansing them a few hours in cold spring water, fry the fish 

 in a batter made of crumbs of bread, producing a wholesome 

 and savoury dish.* The Clams (Pecten) are also a much 

 esteemed genus; the P. maximus in the south is often 

 pickled and barrelled for sale ; and the P. opercularis is com- 

 monly eaten in Scotland. The Razor-fish (Solen siliqua), 

 common on our sandy shores, is an article of food in many 

 places ; and when they go to its capture, the Irish are said to 

 have a song appropriate to the occasion, whence we may infer 

 that it is a favourite with them. Whether an eastern origin 

 for the Irish people can be with equal safety inferred from the 

 fact, I leave others to determine ; but the Japanese have the 

 same fondness for the razor-fish, a species of which, according 

 to Kaempfer, " found only upon the coasts of Tsikimgo," is so 

 highly prized, that " by express order of the prince of that 

 country it is forbid to fish them till a sufficient quantity hath 

 been provided for the emperor's own table." f 



This catalogue, were it necessary, might easily be ex- 

 tended ; but it may be sufficient, in addition, to remark that 

 almost every shore has some species peculiar to it, or more 

 plentiful than elsewhere, which the natives make subservient 

 to the table. Thus, at Bourdeaux, the Anomia undulata is 

 considered a delicacy ; while, on some parts of the shores of 



ment to the poor of the neighbouring district. Besides the home consump- 

 tion, it is computed that 300/. is annually gained in Greatham by this 

 occupation." Surtees's Hist, of Durham, iii. 941. 



* Turton's Conch. Brit. 183. 



t Hist, of Japan, i. 140. The text is perhaps already too overloaded with 

 particulars, and for this reason I add in a note the few following from a 

 more copious collection : Adanson praises his Apan, a species of Pinna, 

 for the excellence of its fish ; but his Lunot, a species of Pullastra, is the 

 sweetest and most delicate of all the Senegal shell-fish. Voy. au Sen'tg. 213, 

 228. Osbeck says that in China the animal of Conus chinensis is put into 

 water, and sold in every street by the name of Ha-in-yo. Voy. to China, 

 1. 203. A species of Volute, the Yet of Adanson, whose animal some- 

 times weighs five or six pounds, is smoked and preserved by the negroes of 

 Senegal against times of famine, to which they are frequently exposed. 

 Some of the larger Chitons are eagerly devoured by the lower orders in the 

 West Indies, who have the folly to call them beef : the thick fleshy foot is 

 cut away from the living animal, and swallowed raw, while the viscera are 

 rejected. Zool. Journ. v. 30. Of the Unio margaritiferus, or pearl-mussel, 

 Boetius says : " Such is their estimation among the deintiest kinds of food, 

 that they were not unworthilie called, of old time, widowes' lustes." Scot. 

 15. See also the article " Mollusca " in Supp. Encycl. Brit. 



