48 THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 



one. The lower valve ia nearly fiat, and contains a 

 deep fissure or hole at one extremity through which 

 the animal passes a bundle of horny threads — the 

 byssus — for the purposes of attachment. Our Ano- 

 mia appears to be undistinguishable from the com- 

 mon European species {Anomia ephippium), and this 

 may also be the case with some of the varieties of 

 the oyster just described. 



He who has but once trod the Jersey sands knows 

 the scallop, whose radiately-ribbed and symmetri- 

 cally-formed shell is one of the commonest objects 

 on the beach. Indeed, during recent years it has 

 been steadily growing in favor as an article of food ; 

 and why it should be less palatable than its first 

 cousin, the oyster, is a little difficult to say. The 

 scallop, so called from the service to which the shell 

 was formerly put in ' scalloping' oysters, inhabits 

 the sub-tidal zone to a depth of some 250 feet or 

 more, frequently forming by its aggregations vast 

 banks. The animal rests on its right valve, which 

 is in almost all cases more convex than its fellow. 

 Beneath, or at the base of, the anterior ' ear' of this 

 valve will be found a fairly profound notch, which 

 marks the passage of the byssal fibres secreted by 

 the foot. Considerable interest attaches to this 

 animal as being the first among the bivalve Mol- 

 lusca in which, it was claimed, the presence of 

 visual organs had been detected. If the margin 

 of the mantle be examined it will be found to be 

 double, the inner piece hanging like a finely-fringed 

 curtain. Along its base are scattered a number of 

 small black or blue specks, to which, for apparently 



