MAKSHALI. : ADDITIONS TO "BRITISH CONCHOLOGY.' 325 



able to indigestion, more or less acute, and mostly caused by insut- 

 ficient cooking, of which they require an inordinate amount. When 

 well pounded and sufficiently cooked, however, they make a really 

 savoury dish. They should first be browned in a pan, and then 

 gently stewed. I have eaten them on numerous occasions, but never 

 once experienced any discomfort. 



Haliotis are most prolific, and attain a large size, on an extensive 

 barrier group of rocks and islets, called the Minquiers, which are 

 situated between Jersey and France, and about twenty miles from the 

 former coast. Here at low tide hundreds of acres of rocky ground are 

 exposed, and yield a rich harvest to the ormering parties ; while a 

 marine naturalist, following in their wake, could not fail to reap a 

 large reward from the number of stones they leave upturned. These 

 ormering parties are taken to the group by a small steamer, only once 

 or twice in the early spring (February and March), at a time when I 

 have never been in the island to seize the opportunity of accompany- 

 ing them, much as I have wished to explore this group. It is on 

 these island reefs that Trito7t cutaceus and T. nodifenis would be 

 most likely to be met with should these species still survive in our 

 seas. 



Pearly excrescences frequently occur in the shell oi H. iubercidata^ 

 but loose pearls of any value are very rare, although two fine pearls 

 of a regular shape, and weighing about two grains apiece, have been 

 taken from a Jersey ormer. 



While on the subject of pearls, it is a remarkable thing that the 

 Shetland seas should be comparatively rich in seed pearls, though 

 whence they are derived 1 cannot conjecture. The first and most 

 obvious suggestion is that they are voided by Ostrea and Mytilus, but 

 these species occur everywhere, and while I do not remember having 

 found a single pearl in any other dredging, on the other hand I have 

 never worked out a Shetland dredging without gleaning some seed 

 pearls. A possible explanation may be that in the Shetland seas the 

 oyster or the mussel is infested with parasitic larvje, which is now 

 considered to be largely responsible for the valuable pearls of Ceylon, 

 a scientific examination of which has revealed the fact that cestode 

 larvae form their nucleus. It is only fair to add, however, that the 

 parasitic theory of pearl formation is not uncontested. 



Scissurella crispata Flem. — Mull of Cantire, ig-ssf. (Knight) ! 

 off Fair Isle (Simpson) I off Loch Ryan, 25f , and North Rona, 2^i. 

 Also Straits of Korea, 4 if. (' Sylvia') ! 



Molleria laevigata Jeff. — Between the Shetlands and the Faroes 

 (Simpson) ! 



M. COStulata Moll. — Off Fair Isle, ? fossil ; and off the Flugga 



