Note 162 — BOOK XXXII.1 REMEDIES DERIVED FROM AQUATIC ANIMALS.

There has been considerable discussion among the commentators as to the meaning of the word “spondylus” here. We are inclined to adopt the opinion of Venette, and to think that it means the so-called “meat” of the oyster. It must be short, and consequently plump and comparatively destitute of beard, and it must not be fleshy, as that would imply a degree of toughness not desirable in an oyster. The words “nec fibris laciniata ac tota in alvo,” only seem to be an amplification of the preceding ones, “spondylo brevi et non carnoso.”