XXil Introduction. 
those used for trumpets, often in the same beds; the fact 
that some of the trumpet-shells yield pearl-like bodies 
which are put to cultural uses; and the transference to 
pearls of some of the magical attributes of the cowry—all 
of these considerations suggest the intimate genetic rela- 
tions of all of these special appreciations of the value of 
shells. Moreover the two areas were linked together at a 
very remote historical period. At least as early as the 
Third Dynasty Egyptian sailors were engaged in mari- 
time trafficking both in the Red Sea and the Eastern 
Mediterranean, and beliefs in the magical properties of 
shells no doubt were constantly being exchanged between 
the inhabitants of the shores of the two seas. Pliny men- 
tions a legend of the relationship of the Minzans and 
Rhadamzans of Southern Arabia to Minos of Crete and 
his brother Rhadamanthus. When the intimate relations 
between the shell-cults of the Red Sea and of Crete are 
recalled one is inclined to attach some significance to 
Pliny’s story, even though he himself was sceptical of it. 
Cyprus is intimately linked with the cult of the 
cowry as well as with the working of copper—an associa- 
tion to which | shall refer later. 
Crete, so far as is known, was the original home of 
the conch-shell trumpet and the manufacture of purple 
dye. The Phoenicians, with whom these things are often 
associated, were no more than the chief agents for dis- 
tributing them abroad. 
In studying the geographical distribution of the use 
of conch-shell trumpets, of the purple dye and of a special 
appreciation of pearls, one cannot fail to be struck with 
their associations. 
Mr. W. J. Perry has called attention to the remarkable 
identity of the’ geographical distribution of megalithic 
'* Manchester Memoirs (Lit. and Phil. Soc,), November 24, 1915. 
