VENERIDjE. PULLET. 145 



Tapes decussata is called in some parts of England 

 " purr," and in Hampshire " butterfish." At Stubbing- 

 ton, near Tichfield, quantities are collected, and sold in the 

 neighbourhood, at 5rf.per quart, where they are considered 

 richer and better than cockles. They are found at low 

 tide not far from high-water mark, and their locality is 

 easily detected by two holes in the sand or gravel (un- 

 like the cockle, which makes but one) about an inch or 

 so apart. They are easily dug up by means of an old 

 knife. On warm still days they appear to rise more 

 readily to the surface ; but if cold or windy they bur- 

 row about two or three inches deep in the gravelly 

 sand. Butterfish are considered very wholesome, and I 

 was assured by the cockle-gatherers that they might be 

 eaten with impunity at all times of the year, and never 

 disagreed with people as the mussels and cockles occa- 

 sionally do. 



M. Gay says that at Toulon it is known by the 

 name of clouvisso, and is a favourite dish in Conti- 

 nental seaports.* Clovisse is another name for it, and 

 at Bordeaux it sells in the market from twenty to 

 thirty centimes per hundred, and both it and Tapes 

 pullastra are called palourde by the French. At Puerto 

 de Santa Maria, in Spain, it is very highly prized, ana 

 the Spaniards say " es buena " in speaking of it ; and at 

 Vigo thousands are gathered at every tide. 



Other species of Tapes are eaten abroad, besides those 

 already mentioned; and we may add another to our 

 edible moUusks, viz. Tapes Virginea, which is distributed 

 all round our coasts. It varies very much in colour, 

 and you may gather a dozen or more specimens without 

 finding two that resemble each other. The brightest I 



* Jeffreys' Brit. Conch, vol. ii. p. 361. 



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