166 Economic Uses of Shells, and their Inhabitants. 



is described from the Levant under the name of C( Blatta B."* 

 Dr. Lister laments the loss of this article from the Materia 

 Medica, believing it " to have been a good medicine, from its 

 strong aromatic smell." Mr. Hanbury procured samples in 

 Damascus in October, I860, and a friend bought some in Alex- 

 andria a few months before. This oriental drug is still found 

 in the bazaars of the East, though not much in demand. 



It appears to be identical with the Onycha of Scripture 

 (Exodus xxx. 34), one of the ingredients of the sacred perfume 

 (W. Smith, Diet. Bib. iii. 635). Dioscorides describes the 

 onyx (Onycha) as the operculum of a shell-fish, resembling 

 Purpura, found in India ; the best kind was obtained from the 

 Eed Sea. (Pliny.) 



It really does consist of the horny opercula of whelks 

 (Purpura and Murex), mixed with opercula of a species of 

 Fusus and of 8 trombus (lentiginosus ?), called by the Arabs 

 " devils' claws," on account of their serrated edges. It does 

 not appear to deserve the character of an " excellent odour " 

 ascribed to it. 



Humboldt tells us that the small operculum of a species of 

 Turbo, flat on one side, and round on the other, has long 

 been regarded by certain races of South America as possessing 

 supernatural properties. 



The " sea-hare " (Aplysia depilans) was formerly held in 

 great dread among the superstitious fishermen of our coasts. 

 It was said that its touch would cause the hair to fall off, and 

 that the purple fluid it emits when touched was a deadly poison, 

 the operation of which was inevitable. (Patterson.)- 



Mollusca applied in Commerce, Arts, and Manufactures. — 

 All the cuttle-fishes possess an ink-bag, from which at pleasure 

 they can emit a fluid which darkens the water, and favours 

 their escape from their enemies. The prepared ink of the 

 cuttle-fish is capable of being made into a pigment. ■This 

 is the "sepia" of commerce. 



The ink of the Sepia was formerly used for writing with 

 (Cicero), and even after being entombed for centurie's, it 

 preserves its powers. 



Dr. Buckland supplied some of this ink from a fossil 

 Belemnoteuthis to an eminent painter, who, after using it, 

 inquired from what colourman such excellent sepia might be 

 procured. But " sepia " is not the only colouring matter which 

 the mollusca furnish for the use of man. The dye used in the 

 manufacture of the celebrated ' ' Tyrian purple " of the ancients 

 was obtained from certain species of Murex. The small shells 

 were bruised in mortars, and the, animals of the larger ones 



* See MatthioW Comment in Diosc, ii., 8, figures of Blatta B. also in Pomel's 

 Hist, des Drogues, 1091. 



