Pvn H,i I'UitlS

PECTEN. 00
In the north of France it is called " Petite-Vanne";
and Collard des Cherres says that it is eaten in Brittany,
as well as other kinds of scallops. The pallial ten-
tacles or cirri of the variety nivea are extremely inter-
esting and beautiful objects. They
are of different
and brown
colours in the same individual—
white, yellow,
—and are sometimes edged with black or purple. Some
of them are much longer than others, and each has a
white line or streak down the middle. The longest have
a few milk-white specks, and their tips are curled like a
crosier. A few of these tentacles are three-quarters of
an inch long.
All are contractile and extremely sensi-
tive. The outermost row folds back over the margins
of the shell. The edges of the mantle are studded with
papillae. The ocelli do not correspond in number or
position with the ribs of the shell, there being two eye-
lets for every three ribs. All the specimens (about
twenty in number) examined by me on the 1st of September
1862, at Oban, shed from time to time a milky
fluid which I found was entirely composed of sper-
matozoa. These moved actively about in every direc-
tion and spread in the water like a thick mist. The
quantity emitted by each individual was very great, and
after every discharge the water became more turbid.
All these specimens had ovaries of a pale-yellow or
cream colour. This seemed to me a sufficient proof
of the monoecious character of the Scallop; and it
showed that the mode of its fecundation is the same
as takes place in many plants — only substituting spermatozoa
for pollen-dust, and the waves for the wind
or winged insects. A quarter of a century ago, when
this pretty variety was not easily procurable and
therefore exceedingly rare, a specimen fetched £2.
Fifty or more may now be had for the same price.
I