Pvn H,i I'UitlS

358 VENERIUM.
ers w or " pullets " in some parts of Devonshire. De
Gerville says that the people of La Manche sell this
kind for eating, under the name of " Coque." Its vulgar
appellation in Shetland is "Kullyak," being probably
derived from the Norse word " kiiHe," a haddock, this
mollusk being a favourite bait for fish. It is also not
an unpalatable article of human food. I tasted one
raw at the recommendation of Dr. Edmondston, and
fancied that its flavour was not inferior to that of an
oyster. He indeed gave this the preference. The gills
appear to be aerated by means of the mantle- edges,
which are always swaying about with a wave-like motion.
The fry are shaped like the adult, but are quite smooth
and glossy. My largest specimen was found by Edward
Forbes in Skye, and is 2 inches long by 2£ inches broad.
Monsters of another kind occasionally make their ap-
pearance, being distorted in one way or another, chiefly
in being twisted or inequivalve.
This shell differs from T. virgineus in being oval in-
stead of oblong, less glossy and never polished, and in
the ribs being much finer, more numerous, and de-
cussated by longitudinal striae. Forbes was the first
who publicly repudiated (in his '
Malacologia Monensis')
the claims of Venus perforans to specific distinction,
justly considering it to be only a variety of T. pullastra.
Nine years previously, when I was also a juvenile con-
and in the mean
chologist, I formed a similar opinion ;
time Clark made the excellent observations, which were
transferred from his note-book to the pages of the ( Bri-
tish Mollusca/ embodying the views of the consentaneous
triumvirate. The normal coloured markings are
present in some specimens
of this form which had been
immured all their lives in rocks and secluded from the
garish light of day. One living example,
which occu-