67 



seas 438 species of Mollusca. His collection of which 

 after his death, Dr. A. A. Caruana published a ca- 

 talogue in 1867, comprised "Acephala or bivalves, 

 145; Tunicata, 6; BratMopoda, 9; Pteropoda, 8; Ga- 

 stropoda, 259; (of which 42 inhabit land or fresh 

 water); Cephalopoda, 9; Heteropoda, 1. This valuable 

 collection was fortunately retained in Malta, and has 

 ever since been of great use to all lovers of Nature, 

 Sir William Reid, who was then Governor of Mal- 

 ta, having purchased it for the small sum of 30^ 

 for the Public Library. 



Many Mollusca are here used as food, espe- 

 cially by the poorer classes, such as the Helix as- 

 persa known in Malta as Okal'mxa. With the ex- 

 ception of the musk- poly pus and the paper nauti- 

 lus, all the cephalapods found hereabouts including 

 two varieties of the octopus, and several of the cut- 

 tle-fish are eaten. The gasteropods likewise increase 

 our supplies of food, and many a univalve is highly 

 appreciated, as are also numerous bivalves. Marine 

 molluscs have a more delicate flavour in summer 

 than in winter, but care must be taken not to eat 

 those taken from copper sheathing, those which at 

 certain periods become unwholesome, those which 

 are of an unusual colour, those which do not shut 

 spontaneously, and those which have been caught 

 more than 12 hours in summer and 24 in winter. 



The family of the Muricidae or Rock Shells 

 is represented by several varieties, which have a 



