CARDIADiE.— "COCKLE. 
29 
shells counterchanged, are borne by the Silesian family 
of Von Stracbwitz^ which has for crest two wings also 
charged with cockles.’^* 
We also find this shell figured on coins, A specimen 
in the British Museum of the sextans, the sixth part of 
the as, or piece of two ounces, has on one side a cadu- 
ceus, a strigil, and two balls, and on the other a cockle- 
shell. 
Ossian, in his poem the ^ War of Inis-thona,^ tells 
us that the king of that island gave a feast to Oscar, 
which lasted three days, and that they rejoiced in the 
shell,^^ — meaning that they feasted sumptuously and 
drank freely. Again, we meet with the chief of 
shells,’^ and the “ halls of shells.^-’ Macpherson calls 
the cockle the heroes^ cup of festivity,'’^ being known 
by the name of sliga-crechin, or the drinking-shell ; and 
it is also stated that this shell is used in the Hebrides 
for skimming milk-f This seems, however, hardly pos- 
sible, for the “ heroes^^ would probably not be content 
wdth so small a cup as the little common cockle. It 
must have been some larger shell, and formerly the word 
cockle was applied to any shell ; besides which, the 
common cockle could not, from its shape, be used for 
skimming milk, and from its size, it would be of little use 
for that purpose. Moreover, we know that the so-called 
cockle used in the Hebrides for that purpose is a My a, 
there called the cockle. 
The Irish, the South Welsh, and probably others, 
call the whelk [Buccinum undatum) the goggle, and know 
it by no other name. It is evidently the same word 
and is more correctly applied, as we shall presently see. 
* Sibmacher’s ‘ Wapenbucli,’ Heraldry of Fish, p. 226. 
t ‘ A Book for the Seaside.’ 
