||I*an"thi*na (?), n.;
pl. L. Ianthinæ (#), E.
Ianthinas (#). [NL., fr. L.
ianthinus violet-blue,
Gr. &?;; &?; violet + &?; flower.]
(Zoöl.)
Any gastropod of the genus
Ianthina, of which various species are found living in mid ocean;
-- called also purple shell, and violet snail. [Written also janthina.]
&fist;
It floats at the surface by means of a raft, which it constructs by forming and uniting together air bubbles of hardened mucus. The Tyrian purple of the ancients was obtained in part from mollusks of this genus.
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