C. Hirrus[2822] was the first person who formed preserves for the murena; and it was he who lent six thousand of these fishes for the triumphal banquets of Cæsar the Dictator; on which occasion he had them duly weighed, as he declined to receive the value of them in money or any other commodity. His villa, which was of a very humble character in the interior, sold for four millions[2823] of sesterces, in consequence of the valuable nature of the stock-ponds there. Next after this, there arose a passion for individual fish. At Bauli,[2824] in the territory of Baiæ, the orator Hortensius had some fish-preserves, in which there was a murena to which he became so much attached, as to be supposed to have wept on hearing of its death.[2825] It was at the same villa that Antonia,[2826] 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 PRESERVES FOR SEA-SNAILS. Fulvius Lupinus[2827] first formed preserves for sea-snails,[2828] in the territory of Tarquinii, shortly before the civil war between Cæsar 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 Reate;[2829] 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[2830] were the most esteemed of all. For the purpose, also, of fattening them, he invented a mixture of boiled wine,[2831] 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.[2832] This we learn from M. Varro. CHAP. 83. (57.)—LAND FISHES.