226 CARDIUM. 



COMMON COCKLE. 

 PI. 55. /. 4. 



25. Cardium edule. C. testa antiquata, costis viginti sex, obsolete re- 

 cur vat o-imbricatis. Linn, Syst. Nat. ed. 12. p. 1124. Linn. Gmel. 

 p. 3252. 



Shell antiquated ; ribs twenty-six, with obsolete recurved scales. 



List. Anim. Angl. pi. 5. f. 34. Conch, pi. 334. f. 171. Gvalt. Test. 



pi. 71. f. F. Knorr Vergn,6. pi. 8. f. 4. Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. pi. 

 50. f. 41. Da Costa Brit. Conch, pi. 11. f. 1. Chem. Conch. 6. pi. 19. 

 f.194. Ency clop. Method, pi. 300. f. 5. Pult. in Hutch. Dorset. 

 pi. 11. f. 1. Donov. Brit. Shells, pi. 124. Mont. Test. Brit. p. 76. 

 Linn. Trans. 8. p. 66. 



This well-known shell is of a yellowish-white colour, 

 with from twenty-three to twenty-six flattish ribs; some 

 specimens have equal sides, and others are more or 

 less elongated at the anterior end. The inside is white, 

 and the margin is dentated. It is commonly about the 

 size of a walnut ; but Dr. Maton mentions a variety, 

 much larger, from the coast of Essex, called the Ross 

 cockle. 



This is a very common species on the sandy shores of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, where it lies buried a little 

 below the surface. Great abundance of the shells are 

 collected, and regularly brought to London, from spring 

 to autumn, for the sake of the fish, which are regarded 

 as a wholesome and agreeable nourishment. Those 

 which come from Selsea, near Chichester, in Sussex, 

 were considered the best in the kingdom. Prodigious 

 quantities of these shell-fish are also consumed in Hol- 

 land, where their cheapness recommends them to the 

 common people, as a principal article of food during 

 winter. 



Donovan has figured a prolonged variety, under the 

 name of C. rusticum. See British Shells, pi. 124. f. 2. 



