132 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



that of the late violet ; this last being the most vivid of 

 all the " conchy liated" tints.* 



The best purple in Asia was that of Tyre, and the pe- 

 culiar symbol of that city was the whelk, or purpura, 

 and it appears on the Tyrian medals, f Strabo remarks 

 that this city was rendered unpleasant as a place of re- 

 sidence, owing to the great number of its dyeing- works. 

 In the days of Ezekiel, purple was imported by the Ty- 

 rians from the Peloponnesus, but they soon learned to 

 extract the dye for themselves. A modern traveller, Mr. 

 Wifde, observed at Tyre numerous round holes cut in 

 the solid sandstone rock, in which shells seem to have 

 been crushed. They were perfectly smooth on the inside, 

 and many of them shaped like a modern iron pot, broad 

 and flat at the bottom, and narrowing towards the top. 

 Many of these were filled with a breccia of shells ; and 

 he supposes that all the shells were of one kind, probably 

 Murex trwiculus.% 



In Africa, the island of Meninx (now called Gerbee, 

 in the Gulf of Cabes) was famed for its purple, as well 

 as parts of Gsetulia, that border on the ocean ; and in 

 Europe, the best came from Laconia. 



Cornelius Nepos speaks of the Tarentine red; and 

 Hardouin remarks that in his time were still to be seen 

 the remains of the ancient dyeing-houses at Tarentum, 

 and that vast heaps of the shells of the murex had been 

 discovered. § 



Aufrere, in 1789, describes a hill called Monte Tes- 



* Pliny, vol. iv. bk. xxi. 22 (8). f Heraldry of Fish. 



% W. Smith, Diet, of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 1581, article " Tyre." A 

 friend of mine has also seen these holes, round, square, and oblong, 2 

 to 3 ft. deep, but doubts their containing a breccia of shells pounded 

 up in ancient times. 



§ Pliny, Nat. Hist., see note, vol. ii. bk. ix. ch. 63 (39). 



