LITMIR.BIZ

      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.