VENERID^. PULLET. 
145 
Tapes deciissata is called in some parts of England 
purr/^ and in Hampshire butterfish.^^ At S tubbing- 
ton, near Tichfield, quantities are collected, and sold in the 
neighbourhood, at 5i/.per quart, where they are considered 
richer and better than cockles. They are found at low 
tide not far from high-water mark, and their locality is 
easily detected by two holes in^ the sand or gravel (un- 
like the cockle, which makes but one) about an inch or 
so apart. They are easily dug up by means of an old* 
knife. On warm still days they appear to rise more 
readily to the surface ; but if cold or windy they bur- 
row about two or three inches deep in the gravelly 
sand. Butterfish are considered very wholesome, and I 
was assured by the cockle-gatherers that they might be 
eaten with impunity at all times of the year, and never 
disagreed with people as the mussels and cockles occa- 
sionally do. 
M. Gay says that at Toulon it is known by the 
name of clouvisso^ and is a favourite dish in Conti- 
nental seaports.* Clovisse is another name for it, and 
at Bordeaux it sells in the market from twenty to 
thirty centimes per hundred, and both it and Tapes 
pullastra are called palourde by the French. At Puerto 
de Santa Maria, in Spain, it is very highly prized, ana 
the Spaniards say ^^es buena^^ in speaking of it; and at 
Vigo thousands are gathered at every tide. 
Other species of Tapes are eaten abroad, besides those 
already mentioned; and we may add another to our 
edible mollusks, viz. Tapes Virginea, which is distributed 
all round our coasts. It varies very much in colour, 
and you may gather a dozen or more specimens without 
finding two that resemble each other. The brightest I 
* Jeffreys’ Brit. Conch, vol. ii. p. 361. 
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