38 



THE MUSEUM. 



Ffg. 22. 



Fig. 23. 



Fig. 24. 



Fig. 25. 



Fig. 27. 



ered with algae. On occasions they 

 bury themselves in the sand. They 

 creep about by the help of their foot 

 in pursuit of bivalves. They are 

 found in all seas, but the larger spe- 

 cies and greatest numbers come from 

 warm regions, more especially from 

 the West Indian and Australian seas. 

 The Purpura of the ancients was not, 

 as is generally thought, a vermilion 

 red, but rather a very deep violet, 

 which at a later period came to have 

 various shades of red. The secret of 

 its preparation was only known to the 

 Phoenicians, that being most esteem- 

 ed which came from Tyre. Sir Wil- 

 liam Wilde has discovered on the east- 

 ern shore of the Mediterranean, near 

 the ruins of Tyre, a certain number of 

 circular excavations in the solid rock. 

 In these excavations he found a great 

 number of broken shells of Murex trun- 

 culus. He thinks it probable that they 

 had been bruised in great masses by 

 the Tyrian workmen, for the manu- 

 facture of the purple die. Many shells 

 of the same species are found actually 

 living on the same coast at the pres- 

 ent time. 



Aristotle, in his writings, dwells up- 

 on their purple dye. He says that 

 this dye is taken from two flesh-eating 

 molluscs inhabiting the sea which 

 washes the Phoenician coast. Accord- 

 ing to the description given by the cel- 

 ebrated Greek philosopher, one of 

 these animals had a very large shell, 

 consisting of seven turns of the spire, 

 studded with spines, and terminating 

 in a strong beak; the other had a shell 

 much smaller. Aristotle named the 

 last animal Buccinum. It is thought . 

 that the last species is to be recogniz- 

 ed in the Purpura lapillus, [Fig. 27] J 

 which abounds in the Channel; Reau- ■ 



