is usually dredged in comparatively
shallow water.
~PECTEN ZELANDIAE~ (Plate X.).--Fig. 3 is a still smaller shell, and the
most brilliantly coloured of our Pecten family. The valves are similar
in shape, and covered with short spikes. It has only the one ear, or
lug, at the hinge end, but sometimes a portion of the ear is found on
the other side. This shell lives amongst rocks, or in sponges, or on the
roots of kelp, in sheltered or fairly sheltered portions of open
beaches. It is found attached to the rocks by a byssus, or beard.
~PINNA ZELANDICA~ (Plate X.).--Fig. 4 is generally known as the Horse
Mussel. It is usually found amongst the grass, about low water mark, on
sandy beaches, especially those containing a proportion of mud. The
natives call it Hururoa or Kupa, and in some places it is a staple
article of diet with them. This horse mussel is found in certain spots
in great numbers, and is then useless for a cabinet. The collector
should look for odd scattered specimens. As a rule, only about half an
inch of the shell will be found protruding above the beach, in very
shallow water, but in deep water more of the shell will protrude.
~MYTILUS LATUS~ (Plate X.).--Fig. 5 is the ordinary mussel, with a green
epidermis, and the part near the hinge is usually eroded, as shown in
the plate. It grows to a considerable size in New Zealand, being
sometimes 8 inches in length, and is found in enormous quantities in
favoured localities on rocks or attached by its beard in clusters to old
cockle and other shells on the banks. About twenty years ago hundreds of
acres of banks between the town of Tauranga and the sea were in one
season colonised by mussel spawn, and although the mussel was before
that date a rare thing on these banks, yet after the colonisation the
banks were simply a mass of mussels, and the water, being only from one
to two fathoms deep at low spring tide, they were easily procurable. On
the other hand, banks near Kati Kati Heads, that were covered a few
years ago, are now without mussels. This is probably due to some disease
breaking out through overcrowding. The Mytilus edulis (not shown on
plate) is a purplish shell, of similar shape and habits to the above,
but much smaller in size. The Maori name for a mussel is Kuku or Porope
or Tore-tore or Kutai, and for the smaller mussels Kukupara or Purewa or
Toriwai.
~MYTILUS MAGELLANICUS~ (Plate X.).--Fig. 6 is a bluish mussel, with
prominent ribs, as sho
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