164 Economic Uses of Shells, and their Inhabitants. 



The Litorina litorea is collected in immense quantities around 

 our shores, and is known by the familiar name of " winkles/' or 

 " pin-patches. " This species is oviparous, and inhabits the 

 lowest zone of seaweed between tide-marks. The Litorina rudis 

 frequents a higher region, where it is scarcely visited by the 

 tide ; it is viviparous, and the young have a hard shell 

 before birth, in consequence of which the species is not 

 eaten. 



Both the Litorina and Trochus are the food of the thrush, 

 in the .Hebrides, during winter. 



The Amphibola, a mollusk allied to Ampullaria,is eaten by 

 the New Zealanders. 



The land-snails, such as the Helix arbustorum, and H. 

 aspersa, are the favourite food of the blackbird and thrush, and 

 a smaller species of Helix, common on sandy pastures, is said 

 by Patterson to be eaten in vast numbers by the sheep when 

 grazing, and to form a very fattening kind of food. 



-Another land-snail {Helix pomatia) was highly esteemed 

 by the Eomans, who fattened them as articles of food ; they 

 are still found abundantly in many localities in the south of 

 England, especially about the sites of old Roman villas in 

 Gloucestershire. They were at one time appreciated by our 

 ancestors, and when boiled in spring water, and seasoned with 

 oil, salt, and pepper, they make a dainty dish.* Our neighbours 

 the French still eat them extensively, as do also the poorer 

 classes in Spain and Italy ; the Brazilians also eat land-snails. 



Everyone who visits the Paris Exhibition should taste a 

 dish of snails ; they are most delicious.. 



The flesh of the Cuttle-fish , especially that of the arms, is 

 considered highly nutritious. It was greatly prized by the 

 ancients, and, though not used in this country, is still much 

 sought for in other parts of the world, and regularly exposed 

 for sale in the markets at Naples and Smyrna, and the bazaars 

 of India. In the curious Japanese book, from which Fig. 1 of 

 our Plate is taken, there is a picture of a man in a boat engaged 

 in catching cuttle-fishes with a spear, and also of a fishmonger's 

 shop in Japan, at which a number of enormous cuttle-fishes 

 are represented hanging up for sale. The writer has seen three 

 species of cuttle-fish exposed in the markets of Santander, 

 Coruna, and Gibraltar, viz., Onychoteuihis J!(inJ;sii, Leach., Sepia 

 officinalis, Linn., and Lolujo vulgaris, Lam. 



Our most common species {Loligo vulgaris) forms the bait 

 with which one half of the cod taken at Newfoundland is caught. 

 It is also commonly used for bait by the Cornish fishermen. 

 {Couch.) 



From their pelagic habits, they furnish the principal part 

 * Graj's Turtons 31anucJ, pp. 135-G. 



