HABITS AND ECONOMY OF THE MOLLUSCA. 139 



lished at Charleston, S. C. ; H. lactea at Montevideo ; H aapersa 

 in California, etc. The natives of New Caledonia eat quantities 

 of the large bulimi (Flacostylus) characteristic of that archi- 

 pelago ; in Guatemala the large Helix Ghieshregliti is eaten. 



The pelecypoda or bivalve shell-fish are consumed in such 

 quantity as to rank with the principal kinds of animal food. The 

 oyster trade has become enormous and is constantly growing. 

 The best known edible species are Ostrea edults, in Europe; 0. 

 angulata, on the west coasts of France and Portugal ; 0. 

 laineUosa^ in the Mediterranean ; 0. borealis, and 0. Virginica^ 

 on the Atlantic coast of the United States; 0. parasitica, in the 

 West Indies ; 0. tuberculata, at the Cape of Good Hope ; 0. 

 cornucopiae at Suez, etc. 



The sea-mussel {Mytilus edulis) is largelj^ gathered \)y the 

 inhabitants of the European coasts, and I have seen it for sale in 

 man}^ coast towns. It is sufficiently valuable to be cultivated 

 carefully in parks on the west coast of France and the northern 

 shores of German3\ The same species is abundant on the 

 Atlantic coast of the United States, but does not appear to be 

 much esteemed, and is rarely offered for sale. 



But nearly all the marine bivalves are edible ; among those 

 most used, may be cited the species of Pecten, Spondjdus, Area, 

 Cardita, Cardium, Yenus, Donax, Cj'therea, Solen, M^^a, Pholas 

 of European seas; Venun Mercenaria, Mya arenaria, Mactra 

 solidissima — all called clams, Solen ensis, the razor-shell, and 

 Pecten irradians^ of the United States ; Lucina and Donax, in 

 the West Indies ; Avicula niargaritifera, Cytherea Arahica^ 

 at Suez (Yaillaut); Cytherea petechialis, Lucina Philipjnana, 

 Mactra veneriformis^ in China (Debeaux) ; Ifesodesma striata, 

 Lucina tigrina in New Caledonia (Montrouzier) ; Tridacna 

 mutica, in the Caroline Islands, and T gigas, at New Ireland 

 (Quoj^ and Gaimard) ; Mesodesma Chilensis at Valparaiso 

 (d'Orbigny). 



Fresh-water bivalves are less sought foj food on account of 

 the insipidness of their flesh. The many species of Unio of the 

 Western and Southern rivers of the 'United States are scarcely 

 at all eaten ; but in France the indigenous Unionidse are 

 collected in some of the poorer districts. Anodonta edulis is 

 cultivated for food in the ditches of Song-Kiang-Fou, China, 

 (Heude) ; A. sempervirens is eaten by the natives of Cambodia 

 ( Jullien) ; and the J^^theria, or fresh-water oyster, which forms 

 its " banks " in the rivers of Africa, is consumed bj'-the negroes. 



The Kjokkenmoddings, or kitchen refuse-heaps, which have 

 been found so abundantly on both shores of the United States, 

 Brazil, Denmark, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, etc., are 

 mounds, sometimes hundreds of j^'ards in length, and usually 

 composed almost entirely of the shells of edible mollusks, mixed 



