And the qualities, by the way, of this organ are
astringent. It is after the murex has constructed the honeycomb that
the bloom is at its worst. Small specimens they break in pieces,
shells and all, for it is no easy matter to extract the organ; but
in dealing with the larger ones they first strip off the shell and
then abstract the bloom. For this purpose the neck and mecon are
separated, for the bloom lies in between them, above the so-called
stomach; hence the necessity of separating them in abstracting the
bloom. Fishermen are anxious always to break the animal in pieces
while it is yet alive, for, if it die before the process is completed,
it vomits out the bloom; and for this reason the fishermen keep the
animals in creels, until they have collected a sufficient number and
can attend to them at their leisure. Fishermen in past times used
not to lower creels or attach them to the bait, so that very often the
animal got dropped off in the pulling up; at present, however, they
always attach a basket, so that if the animal fall off it is not lost.
The animal is more inclined to slip off the bait if it be full inside;
if it be empty it is difficult to shake it off. Such are the phenomena
connected with the porphyra or murex.