154 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



under 3^. the 100" ; and in 1794 the oyster-beds opposite 

 Prestonpans formed the chief fishery of that port, the ten 

 oyster boats seldom returning without 400 or 500 Oysters 

 each. But, in spite of protection, the oyster-beds of the 

 Forth have long ceased to be worth working and have now 

 almost disappeared. Our forefathers who accumulated the 

 kitchen-middens of past times lived largely on Oysters on 

 several parts of the coast (as in Easter Ross) where Oysters 

 are now scarcely to be found. 



In Co. Clare, Ireland, the consumption of the Warty 

 Venus Shell (Venus verrucosa] was so great that at one 

 time, according to Mr Damon, the species was almost ex- 

 terminated there. 



Land-shells, because of their more limited numbers, seem 

 to have suffered even more severely than the denizens of 

 the sea. It is on record that in the kitchen-midden of an 

 ancient underground house in N. Ronaldshay in Orkney, 

 great numbers of the Banded Garden Snail {Helix nemoralis] 

 were discovered. But the Banded Garden Snail is now 

 extinct on the island. So great did the consumption of the 

 large Roman Snail {Helix pomatid] become in France, where 

 during the season 50 tons were sent daily to Paris alone, 

 that its serious depletion in numbers compelled the French 

 Government to protect it by law, and close seasons were 

 instituted when it was illegal to gather or eat the desirable 

 morsel. 



Crustacean shell-fish have likewise suffered from the 

 zeal of man. In 1913, Scottish coasts supplied the table 

 with 681,059 Lobsters, and 2,213,866 Crabs, and as a result 

 of constant harrying, and in spite of protecting laws, the 

 numbers, as well as the average size of Lobsters have fallen 

 off in many places. 



