196 SHELLS AND MOLLUSCOUS ANIMALS. 



of the sea-side, where a ridge of sand borders the 

 ocean. They are often about two inches and a 

 quarter long, variously clouded and speckled with 

 a variety of colours, most generally of an orange 

 brown tint, though sometimes of purple or violet, 

 and marked with about twelve ribs. 



Our wood-cut represents the large scallop 

 (Pecten maximus\ which, though not general on 



all our coasts, is plentiful on many ; and its fish, 

 as well as that of several other of the species, is 

 used for food. In former days its flat valve 

 served for the dish, and its hollow one for the cup, 

 at the feast to which the less polished inhabitant 

 of our island once invited his friends, when, in the 

 words of Ossian, "the joy of the shell went 

 round." Either this shell, or the species termed 

 Pecten opercularis, was also, in former days, the 

 badge of pilgrimage, when men travelled wearily 

 to the sites of the histories of Scripture, there to 



