116 1HE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. [B. T. 



tinguished by their form. But if they are taken before 

 the breeding season, they will sometimes breed in the 

 baskets, not indeed anywhere, but they collect together 

 like they do in the sea, and the narrow limits of their place 

 of captivity make them hang together like bunches of fruit. 



3. There are many kinds of purpurae, some of which are 

 large, a* those which are found near Sigeum and Lectum ; 

 and others are small, as those in the Euripus and on the 

 Carian coast. Those found in gulfs are large and rough. 

 Most of them contain a black pigment ; in others it is red, 

 and the quantity of it small. Some of the largest weigh 

 as much as a mina. Near the shore and on the coast they 

 are small, and the pigment is red. Those which are natives 

 of the north contain a black pigment ; in those of the south 

 it is red, generally speaking. 



4. They are taken in the spring, about the time that they 

 deposit their capsules, but they are never taken during the 

 dog-days, for then they do not feed, but conceal themselves 

 and get out of the way. The pigment is contained between 

 the mecon and the neck. The union of these parts is thick, 

 and the colour is like a white membrane; this is taken 

 away. When this is bruised, the pigment wets and stains 

 the hand. Something resembling a vein passes through it, 

 and this appears to be the pigment ; the nature of the rest 

 resembles alum. 1 The pigment is the worst at the period of 

 depositing their nidamental capsules. 



5. The small ones are pounded up, shells and all, for 

 it is not easy to separate them ; but they separate the 

 larger kinds from the shells, and then extract the pig- 

 ment. For this purpose the mecon is divided from 

 the neck, for the pigment lies above the part called the 

 stomach, and when this is taken away, they are divided 

 asunder. They are careful to bruise them while alive, for 

 if they die before they are cut up, they vomit up the pig- 

 ment ; for this reason they keep them in the baskets till 

 a sufficient number is collected, and there is time to procure 

 the pigment. 



6. The ancients did not let down or fasten any basket-net 

 to their baits, so that it often happened that the purpura 

 fell off as they were drawn up ; but at the present time the; 



1 Evidently a corrupt reading. 



