Whelk

hwelk, a shellfish, in appearance not unlike a large snail of the twisted species. It swims and clings to the rocks along the coasts of Europe. It is used for food as well as bait for fish. The whelk has a tongue like a file. With this it is able to bore a hole with mathematical precision in the shell of a mussel through which it sucks out the soft parts, all with an economical and skillful expenditure of labor equal to that with which a squirrel extracts the kernel of a nut. The whelk knows where and how to bore to get at the interior with least effort and to greatest advantage. One species of British whelk, for they are all related to the Phoenician murex or whelk yielding Tyrian purple, contains a drop of dye suitable for marking linen. Marks made with it in sunlight are at first light green, turning, on further ex-posure, to deep green, sea green, watchet-blue, and purplish-red. After washing in soapsuds the color intensifies once more into an indelible crimson that, once dried, cannot be washed out.