GASTEROPODA. 



283 



succeeded in dyeing her a garment. The Tyrian 

 purple was perhaps the principal commodity of 

 Tyre when her " Merchants were princes, and her 

 traffickers the honourable of the earth." 





Fjg, 222.— gkandxated trochus. 



The dyeing material is contained in a tube of yellow 

 or cream-colour that runs diagonally across the body 

 of the Murex. If this be cut with a sharp pan* of 

 scissors it gives issue to a creamy substance, which is 

 the colouring fluid, ^\hen applied over linen with 

 a camel-hair brush, the hue is at first a rich " king's 

 yellow," but changes in a few minutes to a delicate 

 pea-green. In about an hour, if the weather be 

 cloudy, it has become of a yellow grass-green, 

 from which it slowly turns to a blue green, thence to 

 indigo, then to blue — a red tinge now becomes appa- 

 rent — then violet, then a purple, more or less tinged 

 with red, till at length, after five or six hours, without 

 direct sunlight, it assumes its final tint, a rather dull 

 purplish crimson or lake. The direct beams of the 

 sun greatly hasten the process. 



There have been found on the shore near the ruins 

 of Tyre a number of round holes cut in the solid 

 rock, varying in size from that of an ordinary metal 

 pot to that of a large boiler. Within these, and on 

 the beach, were a great number of shells broken 

 apparently by design. It is hence supposed that the 

 animals Avere pounded in these mortars for the 



