HALIOTIDiE. — EAR-SHELL, OR SEA-EAR. 
115 
writer speaks of the ormer, or Auris marina, as a lump 
of white pulp, very sweet and luscious, and another, as 
quoted by Professor Ansted, in his Channel Islands,^ 
mentions a large shellfish, taken plentifully at low 
tides, called an ormond, that sticks to the rocks, whence 
we beat them off with a forck or iron hook. ^Tis much 
bigger than an oyster, and like that, good either fresh 
or pickled, but infinitely more pleasant to the gusto, so 
that an epicure would think his palate in paradice if 
he might but always gorniondise on such deiitious 
ambrosia.^^ Athenseus also tells us that the Mria, or 
ears, are most nutritious when fried. Again, he says,* 
“ But otaria (and they are produced in the island called 
Pharos, which is close to Alexandria) are more nutri- 
tious than any of the before- mentioned fish (speaking 
of cockles, sea-urchins, pinnas, etc.), but they are not 
easily secreted. But Antigonus, the Carystian, says 
this kind of oyster is called by the ^Eolians the ‘ Ear of 
Venus.^ 
Captain Beechey, in his ^ Voyage to the Pacific,^ men- 
tions the abundance of two species of Haliotis in the Bay 
of Monteroy, and that they are much sought after by 
the Indians, not only for food, but because the shells 
are used for ornaments, and the natives decorate their 
baskets with pieces of them. Haliotis gigantea is eaten 
by the Californian Indians, and the Chinese are very 
partial to Venus^s-ears, which form part of a Chinese 
dinner, with sea-snails, sharks’ fins, etc. The natives of 
New Zealand call Haliotis iris, the mutton fish. 
In Guernsey, ear-shells are used by farmers to frighten 
away small birds from the standing corn — two or three 
of these shells being strung together and suspended by 
* ‘ Deipnosophists,’ vol. i. bk. iii. 35, p. 146. 
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