which signifies burned, is well chosen, for all of its spines and frills 

 and most of the shell are black in color, and look just as though the 

 shell had been scorched. 



" A common rock shell found in the Mediterranean Sea, as well 

 as on the coast of France and Portugal and in the Canary Islands, 

 is the purple rock shell, Murex trunculus. It is a light brown, three- 

 banded shell, about two inches in length, and is famous as having 

 been used by the ancients in obtaining their rich purple dye. On the 

 Tyrian shore, the shells were pounded in caldron-shaped holes in the 

 rocks, and the animals were taken out and squeezed for the dye which 

 they secrete. The fluid obtained was mixed with five or six times its 

 bulk of water, and twenty ounces of soda were added to each hundred 

 pounds of this mixture. It was then placed in lead or tin vessels, 

 and exposed to the sun for several days until the proper hue was 

 obtained. The wool was placed in this dye for a few hours. It is 

 recorded that the dyed wool was valued at two hundred dollars per 

 pound. A legend in Italy states that the discovery of this purple dye was 

 due to the pet dog of a Tyrian nymph, which took one of these shells 

 in its mouth and crushed it with its teeth, thereby staining its mouth 

 and lips with purple. If the animal of one of our common Purpuras, 

 a small shell found along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, 

 be squeezed, it will exude a purple fluid which will stain 

 fabrics a reddish color. It is probable that much, if not 

 most, of the royal purple of the ancients was obtained 

 from these lowly creatures. 



"Although the most beautiful shells of this family 

 are supposed to live in the warm, tropical seas of the 

 Indian Ocean, it is nevertheless true that many of the 

 most brightly colored rock shells live in the warm Purpura lapillus, 



J a purple shell 



waters of Panama and west Mexico. The root rock found abundantly 

 shell, Murex radix, one of these shells, attains a length coast of the United 

 of f.ve inches and is very heavy. The shell is white states^and Europe, 

 or yellowish white, and the spines and frills are jet 

 black, the two colors producing a peculiar effect. Another beautiful 

 shell from the same locality is the two colored rock shell, Murex bicolor, 

 a shell attaining somewhat larger dimensions than the last. In this 

 species, the spines are reduced to mere knobs ; there are but few frills and 

 only two colors, the outside being greenish white, and the aperture a 

 deep red or pink, plainly showing the origin of the name, two colored. 

 This shell is collected at Panama by thousands and shipped all over 

 the United States, to curiosity stores, summer watering places, and 



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