CIDARID^. — SEA-EGGS. 179 



Echinida were also eaten by the ancients, and were 

 said to be tender and full of pleasant juice, but apt to 

 turn on the stomach ; but they were considered good if 

 eaten with sharp mead, parsley, and mint.* 



Demetrius, the Scepsian, says that "a Lacedsemonian, 

 once being invited to a banquet, when some sea-urchins 

 were put before him on the table, took one, not knowing 

 the proper manner in which it should be eaten, and not 

 attending to those who were in the company to see how 

 they ate it ; and so he put it in his mouth with the skin 

 or shell and all, and began to crush the sea-urchin with 

 his teeth ; and being exceedingly disgusted with what he 

 was eating, and not perceiving how to get rid of the 

 taste, he said, ' Oh, what nasty food ! I will not now be 

 so effeminate as to eject it, but I will never take it 

 again/ "f 



A friend of mine once tasted a sea-urchin raw, while 

 she was travelling in the south of Europe, as it was 

 highly recommended, and considered quite a delicate 

 morsel ; but she told me that it was very unpalatable, 

 and rather bitter, and she had not the courage to swallow 

 it like the Lacedaemonian. 



At Marseilles, baskets are seen in the fish-market 

 filled with the beautiful green sea-ribbon, Zostera ma- 

 rina, on which are placed sea-eggs, and generally one is 

 broken to show the orange-coloured oval mass inside.J 



There are four species of Echini eaten, viz. Echinus 

 melo [V our sin melon), in Corsica and Algeria; Echinus 

 lividus {V our sin livide), at Naples ; Echinus esculentus 

 {Pour sin commun), in Provence; and Echinus granulosus. 



* Athenseus, ' Deipnosophists,' vol. i. bk. iii. i;. 41. 

 t Ibid. vol. i. bk. iii. c. 41, p. 152. 



t ' Keise-Erinnerungen aus Spanien,' von E. A. Bossmassler. 



N 2 



