470 
pliny's natural htstoet. 
[Book IX. 
of Eaiae, the orator Hortensius had some fish-preserves, in 
which there was a murena to which he became so much at- 
tached, as to be supposed to have wept on hearing of its 
death. It was at the same villa that Antonia,^^ the wife of 
Drusus, placed earrings upon a murena which she had become 
fond of; the report of which singular circumstance attracted 
many visitors to the place. 
CHAP. 82. (56.) WHO INVENTED PEESERVES EOE SEA-SNAILS. 
Eulvius Lupinus^^ first formed preserves for sea-snails,^* in 
the territory of Tarquinii, shortly before the civil war between 
Caesar and Pompeius Magnus. He also carefully distinguished 
them by their several species, separating them from one another. 
The white ones were those that are produced in the district 
of Eeate those of Illyria were remarkable for the largeness 
of their size ; while those from Africa were the most prolific ; 
those, however, from the Promontory of the Sun^ were the 
most esteemed of all. Por the purpose, also, of fattening them, 
he invented a mixture of boiled wine,^''' spelt-meal, and other 
substances ; so that fattened periwinkles even became quite an 
object of gastronomy ; and the art of breeding them was brought 
to such a pitch of perfection, that the shell of a single animal 
would hold as much as eighty quadrantes.^^ This we learn 
from M. Yarro. 
•^^ Porphyry, Tzetzes, and Macrobius relate the same story. 
^■^ See B. vii. c. 18, and B. xxxv. c. 36. Her grandson, Caligula, is 
supposed to have hastened her death. 
Hirpinius is the more common reading. He is mentioned in B. viii. 
c. 78. If the reading Lupinus " is adopted, nothing seems to be known 
of this epicurean trifler. 
3* Our periwinkles. 
See B. iii. c. 17. 
^6 Off the coast of Africa, see B. v. c. 1. These periwinkles, or sea- 
snails, are again mentioned in B. xxx. c. 15. 
Sapa." Must, or new wine, boiled down to one half, according to 
Pliny ; and one third, according to Varro. 
38 The " quadrans" contained three cyathi, and was the fourth part of 
a sextarius, which consisted of about a pint and a-half ; in which case the 
contents of one of their shells would be no less than fifteen quarts ! ! A 
statement to which no credit can be attached, unless, indeed, the sea-snail 
was something quite different to our periwinkle. 
