HE 
PURPURAS.—MUREXES. 
Looxrne over the shells upon the table, 
Miss Bremely found a pretty tuberculated shell 
of the Muricide family. She told Undine its 
name— Purpura emarginata. 
“Tt has a pretty relative,” said Miss Breme- 
ly, “which is used by the South Sea Islanders 
as a drinking cup, and both belong to that 
famous family which yielded the royal purple 
dye anciently so highly prized by those who 
wore ‘soft raiment’ and dwelt in ‘kings’ 
houses.’ 
“'The dye was a colorless fluid which became 
purple upon exposure to the sun; it was but a 
drop, and secreted in a veinlike sac near the 
head of the little AZwrex. No wonder that 
purple stuffs were costly, being valued, we 
are told, as high as two hundred dollars a 
pound. 
“To-day, beside the ruined city which gave 
its name to these pulps he other ruins—piles 
4 
