es: 
_(m) finely frmged; at its 
CONCHIFERA. 411 
PECTEN, O. F. Miller. Scallop. 
Etymology, pecten, a comb. 
Type, P. maximus (Janira, Schum.) 
Synonyms, Argus, Poli. Discites, Schl. Amusium, Muhlfeldt. 
Shell sub-orbicular, regular, resting on the right valve, 
usually ornamented with radiating ribs; beaks approximate, 
eared; anterior ears most prominent; posterior 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 
(Fig. 210). 
Animal with the mantle quite open, its AGL rs double, the 
inner pendent like a curtain niin 
base a row of conspicuous 
round black eyes (ocelli) sur- 
_rounded by tentacular fila- 
“ments; gills (br) exceed- ”™ 
ingly delicate, crescent- 
shaped, quite disconnected 
posteriorly, having separate 
excurrent canals; lips folia- 
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—40fathoms; its bodyis bright orange, 
or scarlet, the mantle fawn-colour, marbled with brown; the 
shell is used for “scalloping” 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. Jacobeus); 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. niveus moors itself to the 
fronds of the tangle (Laminaria). 
* The Pectens do not open so wide as here represented; their “ curtains” remain 
in contact at one point on the posterior side, separating the branchial from the exhalent 
currents. 
+ When 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 
“ Heralury of Fish.’’) 
T 2 
Fig. 216. Pecten varius.¥ 
