LITTORINIDiE. PERIWINKLE. 
137 
Athenseus, in liis ^ Deipnosopliists/ mentions several 
kinds of periwinkles. He saysj the periwinkle, 
the white are the most tender, and they have no dis- 
agreeable smell, . . . but of the black and red kinds the 
larger are exceedingly palatable, especially those that 
are caught in the spring. As a general rule, all of them 
are good for the stomach, and digestible when eaten with 
cinnamon and pepper.^^ 
There is a large consumption of these little mollusks 
in London ; and Billingsgate market is supplied from 
various parts of the British coast ; the largest supply is 
in May and June, and they sell at one shilling a 
measure. Mr. Patterson, of Belfast, states, in his ^ In- 
troduction to Zoology,^ that quantities of periwinkles 
are annually shipped from Belfast for London, and in 
1861 the amount was 3394 bags, each containing about 
three bushels, and w'eighing 34 cwt., so that the peri- 
winkles exported in that year exceeded 10,000 bushels, 
and weighed nearly 600 tons. 
In the Orkneys, at Stromness, I am told that they 
are collected in sacks, and sent south to the different 
markets. 
Professor Simmonds states that the annual consump- 
tion of periwinkles in London has been estimated at 
76,000 baskets, weighing 1900 tons, and valued at 
£15,000; further, that the inhabitants of Kerara, near 
Oban, gather them, and get sixpence a bushel for col- 
lecting them, and forward them from Oban to Glasgow, 
thence to Liverpool, en route for London. About 30 
tons are sent up to London from Glasgow. 
Mr. A. Morton tells me that in Jersey the market is 
supplied with periwinkles brought from Southampton, 
those found in the island being very small ; and occa- 
