Patella vulgata cm long, and lacks defined chirality. Common limpets are believed to be able to live for up to twenty years. "Patella vulgata" has been the focus of a range of scientific investigation, as far back as 1935. Its development is well described and it has recently been the focus of transcriptomic investigation, providing a range of genomic sequence data in this species for analysis. Their teeth are the strongest natural material known. A study published in the Royal Society journal in 2015 concluded that "the tensile strength of limpet teeth can reach values significantly higher than spider silk, considered to
Traditional Chinese medicines derived from the human body "Three Corpses; demonic spirits believed to live in the human body and hasten death" and "gǔdú" 蠱毒 "gu poisoning"; a poison produced by venomous insects; cast a black magic spirit possession over someone". The first "Bencao gangmu" prescription for human nails is not from Chinese medical texts but from Daoist rituals for expelling what (Cooper & Sivin (1973: 220) describe as the "Three Corpse-Worms 三尸, the chief of the "inner gods" who are to the individual microcosm what the celestial bureaucracy is to the cosmos." Prescription 52.6.1, the 斬三尸法 "Method of Beheading the Three Corpses", involves supernaturally cutting the nails