Geographical Distribution of the Shell-Purple Industry. 5 
shire, South Wales, and Ireland, in the course of which he 
discovered the curious photogenetic properties of the 
colour. These experiments were continued by other 
observers, including Reaumur,' du Hamel,’ Deshayes,’ and 
Lacaze-Duthiers.* The general concensus of opinion on 
the question is that the ‘purpura’ of Pliny is the Murex 
trunculus, or the M. branderts, of modern conchologists, 
while the ‘buccinum’ of the Roman naturalist is probably 
the Purpura hemastoma, all three species being common 
to the Mediterranean shores. The Purpura lapillus, so 
abundant on the shores of Europe generally, is also likely 
to have been employed in the production of the inferior 
sort of purple. 
The J/urex-shell is almost constantly in evidence as 
a design upon Tyrian coins from A.D. 112 onwards. The 
shell here is quite distinct from the so-called “ MZurex” of 
pre-Alexandrine coins (c?vca 450-400 B.C.). The latter is 
not a A/urex at all, but is more like a 7vzton, or trumpet- 
shell ; and the same shell appears on the coins of Byblus 
(c. 350 B.C.) and of Tarentum (¢ 400-330 B.c.). The 
Murex of the imperial coins of Tyre (A.D. 112 on) is 
distinctly like J/urex branderis, one of the chief purple- 
yielding shells. 
Whether the design of the J/urex (and so-called 
Murex) on these coins had primarily any connection with 
the purple-trade of Tyre is doubtful, though this has been 
suggested by leading authorities. 
+ Mém de 0 Acad. des Sctences, 1711, pp. 168-199 (keaumur also 
accidentally discovered that the egg-capsules of Purpura afforded the dye 
in greater abundance, and with less trouble, than the animal itself). 
> Ibid. 1736, pp. 49-68. 
® * Mollusques de la Méditerranée,” in ‘* L’ Expéd. Scient. de Morée, 
Section des Sciences physiques,” iii., Paris, 1832, pp. 189-192. 
7 Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., x., 1860, pp. 579-584; also Ann. des Sct. 
Nat. Zool., xii., 1859, pp- 5-84. and plate. 
