CIDARID^. — SEA-EGGS. 
179 
Echinidce 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.-’ 
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 Lacedsemonian. 
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 [Four sin livide), at Naples; Echinus esculentus 
[I’oursin commun),\n Provence; and Echinus granulosus, 
* AthensGus, ‘ Deipnosopliists,’ vol. i. bk. iii. c. 41. 
t Ibid. vol. i. bk. iii. c. 41, p. 152. 
J ‘ Eeise-Erinnerungen aus Spanien,’ von E. A. Eossmassler. 
N 2 
