PURPURAS—MUREXES. 929 
though the largest and most beautiful are 
found in the tropics. 
“The regularly arranged spines upon many 
of the shells of this family give them a curious 
and to some varieties a very beautiful appear- 
ance. The ‘black murex’ (Murex radix), with 
its decorations like frmges of brown and black, 
comes from the tropics, and is a beautiful shell. - 
Its rival, however, is the ‘rose murex’ (Murex 
palma-rose) from Ceylon, bordered with rich- 
est brown and lined with delicate rose. 
“The ‘woodcock shell’ (A/urex tennispina) 
is a singular, spiny variety of Murer, with a 
long and slender beak. It is called Venus’s 
comb. This and the following one are the 
shells the poets call the ‘comb of pearl,’ and 
sing of how with it the mermaid 
“Sits on diamond rocks, 
Sleeking her soft, alluring locks. 
Murex tribulus, found in the Indian seas, has a 
pearly shell with very thin, regular, and elon- 
gated spines.” 
Where the mermaid is seen in our picture 
combing her hair with her comb of pearl, the 
beautiful Murex tennispina is the “comb”; 
and the large number of long, parallel curved 
spines and the recurved shorter ones with 
