294 



Dr. Wilde stated, that having been engaged in investi- 

 gating the ruins of Tyre, he discovered several circular 

 apertures or reservoirs cut in the solid sandstone rock close to 

 the water's edge along the southern shores of the peninsula. 

 These in shape resembled a large pot, and varied in size 

 from two to eight feet, in diameter and from four to five deep ; 

 some were in clusters, others isolated, and several were con- 

 nected in pairs by a conduit about a foot deep. Many of 

 those reservoirs were filled with a breccia solely compos- 

 sed of broken up shells, bound together by carbonate of 

 lime, and a small trace of strontian ; large heaps of a simi- 

 lar breccia were found in the vicinity of the pots. This 

 mass, a portion of which Dr. Wilde exhibited to the Aca- 

 demy, is exceedingly heavy, of adamantine hardness, and 

 the shells of which it is composed appear to be all of one spe- 

 cies, and from the sharpness of their fracture, were evidently 

 broken by art and not worn or water washed. The portions 

 of shell were examined by eminent naturalists, and are pro- 

 nounced to be the murex trunculus, which most concholo- 

 gists agree was one species from which the Tyrian dye was 

 obtained, but until now, no ^roo/"could be given of its being 

 the actual shell. 



Dr. Wilde is of opinion, that the reservoirs he discover- 

 ed were the vats or mortars in which the shells were broken 

 up, in order to obtain the dye (which lies in a sac in the neck 

 of the mollusc inhabiting them,) and showed that it accu- 

 rately accords with the description of Pliny, who states, that 

 the smaller shells (of which those in the specimen are ex- 

 amples) were broken in " certain mills J' 



Dr. Wilde exhibited some ancient spear heads, the pro- 

 perty of Lord Lorton, found in the County of Roscommon. 



Resolved, (on the recommendation of Council,) — That 

 certain defaulters, owing five years' subscription and upwards 



