118 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



upon gold."* "Various kinds of shells are used for or- 

 namental purposes, on account of their beautiful na- 

 creous layer: e.g. a Mediterranean species of the little 

 Phasianella, which is made into necklaces, earrings, etc., 

 and known in England as " Venetian shells ;" and in 

 Paris I noticed some pretty bracelets, brooches, earrings, 

 necklaces, and studs, made of the Trigonia pectinata, 

 an Australian bivalve, so arranged as to show the bright 

 pinkish- purple nacre inside the valves. The Miranha 

 Indians also wear on holidays a large button made of 

 the pearly river-shell, in a slit, cut in the middle of each 

 nostril ;t and Sir Samuel Baker states that the women 

 of the Shir tribe, living on the AMiite Nile, make girdles 

 and necklaces of small pieces of river mussel- shells, 

 threaded upon the hair of the girafiFe's tail, and that the 

 effect is nearly the same as a string of mother-of-pearl 

 buttons, f 



Through the kindness of Mr. Morton, of St. Clement's, 

 Jersey, I am enabled to give the following recipe for 

 cooking the sea-ear : — ■ 



" To Dress them to Perfection. — Take them out of the 

 shells, and well scrub them ; then let them simmer for 

 two or three hours, until they are quite tender, after 

 which they may be scalloped as an oyster, or put into 

 the pan to brown with butter." 



They require to be well beaten with a stick or ham- 

 mer, to make them tender, if they are to he fried, and 

 they are likewise sometimes pickled with vinegar. 



* Theophilus, " qui et Rugerua," etc., translated by Robert Hendrie, 

 chap. xcv. p. 391 . 



t ' Naturalist on the Amazon,' by H. Bates, vol. ii. p. 197. 

 J ' Albert Nyanza,' Baker, toI. i. p. 84. 



