254 THE HALIOTIS, OR PEARLY EAR-SHELL. 
The animal of Haliotis is exceedingly tenacious of life. I 
have frequently removed it from the shell by means of a 
sharp knife, and by throwing it, minus the shell, back into 
the water, it would at once descend and place itself in its 
normal position upon a rock, to which it would adhere with 
apparently as much tenacity as before it was deprived of its 
shelly covering. 
"The brilliant and highly colored interior of these shells 
producing sometimes an iridescent effect, has been attributed 
by Sir David Brewster, Dr. Carpenter, and others, to minute 
stri, or grooves, on the surface of the nacre, which alter- 
nate with others of animal membrane. The color is pro- 
duced by the nature of the laminz, which decompose the 
light in consequence of the interference caused by the re- 
flection from two sides of each film, as may be seen in soap- 
bubbles. The nacreous lamine, when magnified, indicate a 
minute cellular structure. The cells are of a long oval form, 
and their short diameter is not above 445 of an inch.” (Jef- 
freys.) The animal of Haliotis is mentioned by Atheneus 
as being exceedingly nutritious but indigestible. ‘The mari- 
time negroes of Senegal esteemed one species a great deli- 
cacy. . . . H. tuberculata is habitually eaten by the poor 
in the north of France and our Channel Isles, where it 15 
occasionally cooked and served at the tables of the rich. It 
requires a good deal of beating and stewing to make it ten- 
der." (Jeflreys.) 
In New Zealand the animal of H. iris is eaten by the 
natives, and is called “Mutton-fish.” Another species 1$ 
eaten in Japan. In California the animals of the two most 
abundant species, H. rufescens and H. C'racherodii, are fre- 
quently eaten by the Americans residing along the coast, and 
are a common article of food with the Chinese, who collect 
them in large quantities at Monterey, and other favorable 
localities north and south of that place, remove the animals — 
from the shells, and dry the former for future use or for ex- - 
port to their native country. EY 


