CONCHII'EEA. 411 



PEcten, 0. F. Miiller. Scallop. 



Mtymology, peden, a comb. 



Type, P. maxinnis (Janira, Sdnim.) 



Synonyms, Argus, Poll. Discites, ScM. Amusiliin, Miililfeldt. 



Shell sub -orbicular, regular, resting on the rigbt valve, 

 usually ornamented with, radiating ribs ; beaks approximate, 

 eared ; anterior ears most prominent ; j)osterior side a little 

 oblique ; right valve most convex, with a notch below the front 

 ear; hinge-margins straight, united by a narrow ligament; 

 cartilage internal, in a central pit ; adductor impression double, 

 obscure ; pedal impression only in the left valve, or obsolete 

 (Pig. 210). 



Animal with the mantle quite open, its margins double, the 

 inner pendent like a curtain .^rt^*^^-^'" 



(m) finely fringed ; at its 

 base a row of conspicuous 

 round black eyes [ocelli) sur- 



rounded by tentacular fila- 

 ments ; gills (&r) exceed- 

 ingly delicate, crescent- 

 shaped, quite disconnected 

 posteriorly, having separate 

 excurrent canals ; lips folia- ^^g- ^le. Fedenvanus* 



ceous ; palpi truncated, plain outside, striated within ; foot 

 finger-like, grooved, byssiferous in the young. 



The Scallop (P. maximus) and " quin " (P. opercularis) are 

 esteemed delicacies ; the latter covers extensive banks, especially 

 on the north and west of Ireland, in 15 to 25 fathoms water. 

 The scallop ranges from 3 — iOfathoms ; its body is bright orange, 

 or scarlet, the mantle fawn-colout, marbled with brown; the 

 shell is used for " scalloj)ing " oysters, formerly it was em- 

 ployed as a drinking-cup, and celebrated as such in Ossian's 

 " hall of shells." An allied species has received the name of 

 "St. James's shell" (P. Jacohceus); it was worn by pilgrims 

 to the Holy Land, and became the badge of several orders of 

 knighthood, t 



Most of the Pectens spin a byssus when young, and some, 

 like P. varius, do so habitually ; P. niveits moors itself to the 

 fronds of the tangle {Laminaria). 



* The Pectens do not open so wide as here represented ; their " curtains " remain 

 ii. contact at one point on the posterior side, separating the branchial from the exhalen* 

 currents . 



t "VVlien the monks of the ninth century converted the fisherman of Gennesaret into 

 a Spanish warrior, they assigned him the scallop-shell for his "cognizance." (Moule's 

 " Eeralui-y of Fish.") 



T 2 



