hese
claws as well as the long columella (Fig. 5). Hence, when the
shell-cults were diffused from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean (where
the _Pterocera_ is not found), it is quite likely that the people of the
Levant may have confused with the octopus some sailor's account of the
eight-rayed shell (or perhaps representations of it on some amulet or
statue). Whether this is the explanation of the confusion or not, it is
certain that the beliefs associated with the cowry and the octopus in
the AEgean area are identical with those linked up with the cowry and the
_Pterocera_ in the Red Sea.

I have already mentioned that the mandrake is believed to possess the
same magical powers. Sir James Frazer has called attention to the fact
that in Armenia the bryony (_Bryonia alba_) is a surrogate of the
mandrake and is credited with the same attributes.[307] Lovell Reeve
("Conchologia Iconica," VI, 1851) refers to the Red Sea _Pterocera_ as
the "Wild Vine Root" species, previously known as _Strombus radix
bryoniae_; and Chemnitz ("Conch. Cab.," 1788, Vol. X, p. 227) says the
French call it "Racine de brione femelle imparfaite," and refer to it as
"the maiden". Here then is further evidence that this shell (a) was
associated in some way with a surrogate of the mandrake (Aphrodite), and
(b) was regarded as a maiden. Thus clearly it has a place in the
chequered history of Aphrodite. I have suggested the possibility of its
confusion with the octopus, which may have led to the inclusion of the
latter within the scope of the marine creatures in Aphrodite's cultural
equipment. According to Matthioli (Lib. 2, p. 135), another of
Aphrodite's creatures, the purple shell-fish, was also known as "the
maiden". By Pliny it is called Pelogia, in Greek [Greek: porphyra]; and
[Greek: porphyromata] was the term applied to the flesh of swine that
had been sacrificed to Ceres and Proserpine (Hesych.). In fact, the
purple-shell was "the maiden" and also "the sow": in other words it was
Aphrodite. The use of the term "maiden" for the _Pterocera_ suggests a
similar identification. To complete this web of proof it may be noted
that an old writer has called the mandrake the plant of Circe, the
sorceress who turned men into swine by a magic draught.[308] Thus we
have a series of shells, plants, and marine creatures accredited with
identical magical properties, and each of them known in popular
tradition as "the maiden". They are all culturally associated w