The Whelks. Trumpet Shells 



The voracity of this scavenger snail is its besetting weakness. 

 A wicker basket baited with fish oflfal and lowered at night to a 

 muddy bottom is drawn up loaded with whelks in the morning. 

 The helpless lobster fisherman gnashes his teeth over the 

 greedy mollusk which steals his bait over night, and then leaves 

 the empty traps, The long lines set for cod are often drawn up 

 with whelks on the hooks. 



On the other hand, whelks have their enemies. Cod are 

 especially fond of them. Forty or fifty shells are sometimes 

 found in the stomach of a single fish. Quantities of whelks are 

 used for bait in the cod fisheries. Hermit crabs are quick to 

 occupy empty whelk shells. The people of Northern Europe count 

 whelks among important sea foods — a staple, not a delicacy. 



The Dublin method of cooking whelks is to boil them until 

 they fall from the shell ; then fry in butter until brown. A whelk 

 soup which sounds "good enough to eat" is made somewhat like 

 a clam chowder. The fried whelks are added to a vegetable 

 soup, in which they boil an hour before being served. Boiled 

 tender, whelks are eaten with oil and vinegar. In America they 

 are unknown as food, though plentiful on the Atlantic coast. 



The range of this species is from tide level to a depth of 650 

 fathoms, and from the Arctic Seas to the Mediterranean and New 

 Jersey coasts. In sandy bottoms the shell is solid and strongly 

 waved and ridged; in mud it is thin and smooth. The usual 

 colouring is pale rusty, under a thin epidermis. Some are pure 

 white. The body is dirty white, with black dots and streaks. 

 Any species of such great geographical range is bound to show 

 striking variations. The average size is three inches in length 

 by two inches wide. A single specimen 6j inches long is probably 

 the largest known. Pygmies represent the other extreme. 



Each country has its own common name for this mollusk. 

 It is called "the roaring buckie" by Scotch children who are told 

 that by laying the shell's mouth close to the ear one hears the 

 murmurs of the sea imprisoned in its coiled spire. 



THE IVORY SHELLS 



Genus EBURNA, Lam. 



Shell ovate, smooth, ivory-white, spotted with orange-red; 

 epidermis dark; whorls shouldered; umbilical area large, set off 



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