Mollusks. 4317 



Striated Scallop, Pecten slriatus. Rare, One found by Mr. 

 Martin at Lossiemouth, in a boat just returned from sea. 



Tiger-coloured Scallop, Pecten iigrinus, (P. obsoletus, Flem. and 

 Mac.) Not rare. " Gamrie," Mac. Burghead, Mr. Murray. " Fre- 

 quently brought up by the dredge from a shelly or muddy bottom," 

 Mr, Macdonald. Several good specimens have been got from the 

 stomachs of fish. 



Laskey's smooth Scallop, Pecten similis. " Trouphead, in sixty 

 fathoms, numerous and free (Thomas)," F. 8$ H. One specimen on a 

 dead shell, from Lossiemouth. Mr. Macdonald has obtained speci- 

 mens at Lossiemouth and Buckie, Edwards' collection. 



Clam-shell or Great Scallop, Pecten maximus. Not uncommon. 

 To be met with in single valves on the shore, and in the fishermen's 

 boats on their return from the fishing-grounds. 



Common Scallop, Pecten opercularis. Abundant. The most 

 common of the northern Pectens, and erhaps the most beautifully 

 painted and varied coloured of the larger boreal shells. 



Icelandic Scallop, Pecten Islandicus. " Gamrie," Mac. Single 

 valves of this species have been found, but always in a semi -fossil 

 state, at Lossiemouth by Mr. Martin, and at Burghead by Messrs. 

 Macdonald and Murray. 



The Common Oyster, Ostrea edulls. The only ascertained locality, 

 in the district assigned to this list, where this, the most prized of all 

 the British Mollusca, is now found alive, is in the Cromarty Firth, 

 near Tarbet House. It is probable, however, that they have been 

 planted there, as the bed is small and strictly preserved for the private 

 use of the proprietor's family. Dead or semi-fossilized valves are fre- 

 quently found along the southern shore of the Firth, where several 

 attempts to plant a colony have failed, chiefly, it is believed, owing to 

 the vast accumulations of shifting sands, which would not long leave 

 unvisited by their submerging and destructive influence, every firm 

 or tenacious muddy bottom where the oyster could flourish. At some 

 early period, and that since the country was peopled, there must have 

 been no lack of them, as the heaps of shells already referred to on 

 the north-eastern skirts of the Loch of Spynie, prove. The whole area 

 of its ancient and extensive bed is pervaded with their remains ; and, 

 had it still continued an arm of the sea, it certainly would have 

 yielded, by ministering largely to many a modern " feast of shells," a 

 revenue tenfold greater than that wide and brackish portion of it now 

 does which lies unreclaimed, — the habitat of the Typha and Sciq us, 

 the haunt of the mallard and the coot. 



-XII. Z 



