40 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



is eaten iu the Feroe Isles^ and is there called langskoel ; 

 and Solen marginatus, commonly known as vagina, is 

 greatly prized as an article of food by the Neapolitans. 

 This last-named species has a wide range abroad, but is 

 not so common in this country as the two above-men- 

 tioned shells, though it is abundant in some localities, 

 amongst others Rye, Tenby, and the Channel Islands. 



The razor-shell is the aulo of the Romans; and Aris- 

 totle, in his ' History of Animals,' gives a description of 

 it, stating that " it buries itself in the sand ; can rise 

 and sink in, but does not leave, its hole ; is soon alarmed 

 by noise, and buries itself rapidly ; and that the valves 

 of the shell are connected together at both sides, and 

 their surface smooth."* 



In the time of Athenseus it was much eaten, and highly 

 valued, if we may judge from the following quotations 

 in his ' Deipnosophists :' — ■ 



" Araros says, in his ' Campylion ' — 



" ' These now are most undoubted delicacies, 

 Cockles and solens.' 



And Sophron says, in his "■ Mimi ' — 



'"A. What are these long cockles, my friend, 

 Which you do think so much of ? 

 S. Solens, to be sure ; 



This, too, is the sweet-flesh'd cockle, dainty food. 

 The diah much loved by widows.' "f 



Again, Athenseus says : — " But the solens, as they 

 are called by some, though some call them avKoi and 

 hovaKet, or pipes, and some, too, call them ovv'x^e'i, or 

 claws, are very juicy, but the juice is bad, and they are 

 very glutinous. And the male fish are striped, and not 



* Forbes and Hanley, Brit. MoE. toI. i. p. 240. 



t Athenffius, vol. i. b. iii. p. 144, Bohn's Classical Library. 



