MUREX. 309 



and others) ; ^Black Sea (Middendorff ) . Bathymetrical 

 range^ shore to 30 f. 



The animal yields a purple dye_, like that of Purpura 

 lapilluSf but not in such quantity ; the tint is violet^, and 

 is said to become more vinous, more blue, or more rosy 

 under apparently the same conditions. It is the " sting- 

 winkle '^ of our fishermen, who do their best to get rid 

 of it on account of the ravages which it commits in 

 oyster-beds. This destructive habit has been well de- 

 scribed by Dr. Fischer in the '^Journal de Conchy liologie^ 

 for January 1865. He says that at Arcachon M. eri- 

 naceus goes by the name of '^ cormaillot '^ or '^ perceur/^ 

 and preys on the young oyster (from 6 to 8 months 

 old) , drilling the shell between the muscular impression 

 and the beak, generally in the concave and larger valve. 

 The shells of old oysters are too hard for the Murex to 

 penetrate. The drilling-operation takes 3 or 4 hours. 

 When a hole is made, the whelk uncurls and inserts its 

 long proboscis, and leisurely devours its victim. MM. 

 Petit, Cailliaud, and Tasle have also noticed the damage 

 done by this noxious mollusk on other parts of the 

 French coast. Man is not the only animal that relishes 

 an oyster. M. Cailliaud attributes the perforating 

 power of the Murex to its " trompe acidulee ; ^^ the 

 spinous tongue, however, is usually considered the agent. 

 The egg-cases are separate, of a triangular shape, and 

 compressed at the sides, with a small round hole at 

 the top for the egress of the fry ; the stalk is short 

 and narrow. They are deposited indiscriminately 

 on shells and stones, and form a cluster of from 15 to 

 150, each containing from 12 to 20 perfect whelklings. 

 I caught a small M. erinaceus feeding on an Anoinia, 

 and found that the perforation in the shell of the latter 

 was one-sixth of an inch in diameter, being greater than 



