Natural History: Mollusca. Philip Henry Gosse

      PHOLAS.

      The Cuttle-fishes, though but little used among ourselves, are prized by most other nations. Mr. Couch, speaking of the common Squid, declares that it is excellent, and compares it to tripe, a resemblance to which the kindred genus owes its name, for Kuttel in German signifies tripe. Among the people of Southern Europe the Cuttles are in high repute for the table, and this taste has been ​handed down from the ancient Greeks and Romans. The classics frequently allude to them as among the greatest delicacies. At the nuptial feast of Iphicrates a hundred Polypi and Sepiæ were served up. Among the Greeks generally they were disguised with various condiments and sauces; and the Poulpe, or Many-feet, (Polypus, the Octopus of modern zoology) was the most highly esteemed. Dr. Johnston quotes the "good old story" of Philoxenus in illustration of the gourmand taste for this ill-looking Cephalopod.

      "Of all fish-eaters,

       None, sure, excell'd the Lyric bard, Philoxenus.

       'Twas a prodigious twist! At Syracuse,

       Fate threw him on the fish call'd 'Many-feet.'

       He purchased it, and drest it; and the whole,

       Bate me the head, form'd but a single swallow.

       A crudity ensued—the doctor came,

       And the first glance inform'd him things went wrong.

       And 'Friend,' quoth he, 'if thou hast aught to set

       In order, to it straight;—pass but seven hours,

       And thou and life must take a long farewell.'

       'I've nought to do,' replied the bard, 'all's right

       And tight about me.. …

      . … .I were loath, howe'er,

       To troop with less than all my gear about me;—

       Good doctor, be my helper then to what

       Remains of that same blessed Many-feet.' "

Snails appear to have found equal favour with the ancients. The Romans were accustomed to keep these animals in snail-sties, or Cochlearia, where they fattened them with nutritive pastes artificially made. The species was probably the Helix pomatia, which is considerably larger than our garden snail, but the dimensions which they are said to have attained under these favourable ​circumstances are so enormous as to be utterly incredible. The Illyrian snails were most esteemed for their size, and Pliny informs us that it was a matter of emulation among the amateur snail-feeders of that day to excel each other in the bulk to which their pets should attain; vaunting their most prodigious specimens, as prize pigs and oxen are boasted of among ourselves: "And in time men grew to take such a pride and glory in this artificial feat, namely, in striving who should have the biggest, that in the end one of their shells ordinarily would contain eighty measures called quadrants."^[11]

      Our continental neighbours still enjoy a dish of snails, and several attempts have been, from time to time, made to introduce them at English tables, but with very little success.

But among all the edible Mollusca, there is none that can compete with the Oyster. To speak of the universality of the esteem would be superfluous; but some statistical particulars may not be uninteresting, as showing the importance of this shell-fish in a commercial view. "The number of vessels immediately employed in the dredging for oysters on the Essex coast are about 200, from twelve to forty or fifty tons burden each, employing from 400 to 500 men and boys. The quantity of oysters bred, and taken, and consumed annually, mostly in London, is supposed to amount to 14,000 or 15,000 bushels. All the fisheries connected with this part of the coast, are stated to employ a capital supposed to amount to from £60,000 to £80,000."^[12]

      It is, however, not only as supplying food that the ​benefits of the Mollusca are to be estimated: they are useful also in the arts. The pearl, that splendid auxiliary to costume in all ages, glittering on the tiara of the Assyrian monarchs and on the diadem of our own sovereign, is a production of this class of animals, This, it is true, has no merit beyond its beauty, but the substance called mother-of-pearl is, as is well known, much used in the arts.

      CAMEO CUT IN A CASSIS.

      It consists of the interior layers of many species of shells, principally Bivalves; but some among the Univalves have an interior brilliantly nacreous. The Top-shells (Trochus), several species of which ​occur on our own shores, are very rich in this respect, and the widely-gaping Ear-shells (Haliotis) are most gorgeous.

      The elegant articles called cameos, so much used as clasps and brooches, are formed out of the substance of large shells: the ponderous Helmets (Cassis) of the West Indies are chiefly used for this purpose. A great excellence in the art consists in the careful cutting away of the material so that the ground shall display one colour, commonly a dark hue, while the design is carved in another, commonly the pure white, which overlays the brown.

      Shells, being composed of carbonate of lime, are capable of being burned to a quick-lime, having all the essential properties of that made from stone. On some parts of our own shores where limestone is scarce, shell-lime is extensively burned; but in other countries, as Holland and the United States of America, scarcely any other is used, either for building purposes or for manuring land.

       MONEY COWRY. Among the subordinate uses of shells may be mentioned that in China and Japan the valves of a sort of Oyster (Placuna), which are as large as a plate, flat, and transparent, are used in windows and for other purposes where we employ glass; and among the semi-barbarous of Africa, a little species of Cowry (Cypræa moneta) is universally recognised as a money currency. The natural secretions of the Mollusca are not much used among us. The Indian ink used by artists is generally understood to be in part, at least, ​composed of the black liquor of some species of Cuttle; and an ink is prepared in Italy from this liquor, which, according to Cuvier, differs from the genuine China ink only in being a little less black. Among the ancients this secretion was certainly the basis of the ordinary writing ink, and the soft blackish-brown colour, known as sepia, is at this day manufactured from it.

      The Tyrian purple, the most celebrated manufacture of that famous crowning city whose merchants were princes, was the juice of a shell-fish. Several species were employed to communicate various tints, but the principal was the Murex trunculus, one of the commonest shells of the Mediterranean, which may be compared for size and general appearance to our familiar Whelk. PURPURA. But there is a shell occurring by myriads on our own rocky shores, which has a like property; it is the Purpura lapillus, a small white univalve, surrounded by one or more bands of brown more or less distinct. I have myself been entertained with making experiments on the purple dye of this shell-fish, which, perhaps, some of my readers may like to imitate. In order to this, having collected a few of the animals, which adhere to the rocks between tide-marks, break the shells with the blow of a hammer, taking care not to crush the animals: throw them then into a basin of fresh water, in which they will die in a few minutes. Examining them now, you will find, just behind the head, under the overlapping edge of the ​mantle, a thick vein of a yellowish white hue, filled with a substance resembling cream: this is the dye in question. It is thick and glutinous, so that you cannot well apply it with a pen; but with a camel's-hair pencil you may paint, as it were, upon linen or cotton cloth any lines, the initials of your name, for example. When you have done this you will perhaps be disappointed, for the marks as they dry will be but just discernible, displaying only a pale yellow tint with not the slightest approach to purple, but exhaling an insufferable odour of garlic.

      Place your linen in the light of the sun, and look at it again in half-an-hour, or, if you please, watch its changes. The marks have by this time passed from