28 HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 



CHAPTER V. 

 ENEMIES OF THE OYSTEE. 



OYSTERS have many enemies under water as well as 

 above. The Purpura lapillus, on some beds, is very 

 destructive, and has at Burnham the local name of 

 ' Whelk-tingle/ By means of an apparatus attached 

 to its tongue, and armed with small siliceous spicula 

 at the point, it gradually bores a hole through the 

 shell, and sucks out the inhabitant. This animal 

 exudes, when irritated, a purple dye, which was in 

 such great repute among the Romans, that none but 

 those of the highest rank were allowed to wear it ; 

 it was called by the ancients the Tyrian dye. The 

 star-fish are enemies to the oyster, and are generally 

 destroyed by the fishermen when taken on the beds. 



A boring sponge (Cliond) completely riddles the 

 shells of oysters, particularly the large and deep-sea 

 varieties. Numbers of dead shells may occasionally 

 be picked up on the beach, bored by it. A species 

 of Annelid, called Hermella, which forms tubes of 

 sand and comminuted shells, completely smothers the 

 oysters in some localities, agglutinating them into 

 one mass. 



