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Salty and sweet, neutral, non-toxic. It primarily treats damage to the middle jiao (Middle Burner), hernia masses (lump-like sensations in the lower abdomen), impotence, benefits essence, promotes fertility, treats amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) in women, lower back pain, unblocks the five types of strangury (dysuria), and facilitates urination. It also treats deficiency and depletion in men, weak qi of the five zang organs, nocturnal emission during dreams, and urinary incontinence. Long-term consumption tonifies qi and nourishes the spirit. Another name is Shi You (Erosion Wart). It grows on mulberry branches; it is the egg mass of the mantis. It should be harvested in the second and third lunar months, steamed, and then roasted over fire; otherwise, it may cause diarrhea. When combined with Long Gu (Fossilized Bones), it treats seminal emission. It is incompatible with Xuan Fu Hua (Inula Flower). Commonly, the mantis is referred to as "Lang." It lays eggs wherever it finds a tree, but those found on mulberry trees are considered superior because they absorb the fluids and qi of the mulberry bark. Market vendors may not sell genuine products, often cutting them off along with the branch; counterfeiters may also glue them onto mulberry branches.

Bitter and salty, neutral, non-toxic. It primarily treats cough with rebellious qi, wheezing, chest fullness and irritability, chest pain with alternating chills and fever, and impotence. Another name is Kui Ge (Trumpet Shell), which grows in the East China Sea. Xu Qi (Herba Descurainiae) serves as its guiding herb. It is incompatible with Gou Dan (Dog Gallbladder), Gan Sui (Radix Euphorbiae Kansui), and Yuan Hua (Flos Genkwa). The best quality is fine like sesame seeds, moist, lustrous, and clean; those coarse like half an almond kernel are not used medicinally. [Note]: Those extracted from the belly of wild geese are extremely smooth and glossy, primarily treating twelve types of water retention with urgent pain, and promoting urination through the bladder and large and small intestines. Coarse ones are also called Tun Er Ge (Pig Ear Clam), which are rough and unsuitable for use.

Salty, neutral, non-toxic. It primarily treats malignant sores, erodes the five types of hemorrhoids, treats cough with rebellious qi and chest bi-syndrome (obstruction causing pain), lower back pain with tight hypochondrium, rat abscesses, bleeding from the anus, metrorrhagia and leukorrhea. Genuine Hai Ge (Sea Clam) is very smooth and glossy. It is said to be obtained from goose droppings; only after being processed twenty or thirty times does it become effective. Nowadays, people mostly take ordinary clams and grind/polish them to resemble it. Wen Ge (Cockle) is smaller; if distinguished by size, there are many varieties. Now it is included as an appendix and limited to secondary grade. There are four such substances in total. [Small ones are round, five or six fen in diameter. If used by modern women as a base for rouge, they are certainly not of the Hai Ge category. All things in heaven and earth serve the purposes of heaven and earth; why limit their quantity to primary or secondary grades!]

Sweet, neutral, non-toxic. It primarily treats flaccidity and numbness, dysentery, and pus and blood in stool. Another name is Kui Lu, another is Huo Dong. It grows in the East China Sea. It is perfectly round with hollow ends, shaped like a spindle, slightly narrow and long, with longitudinal and transverse textures on the surface. It is said to be transformed from old bats, and is rarely used. However, the *Shennong Bencao Jing* lists Hai Ge with the alias Kui Ge, which differs from this substance.