424 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
structing agents are extremely curious. The inha- 
bitant of the Buccinum purpurea has two horns, like 
those of the common snail: but the eyes, instead of 
being placed at the extremities, are situated in the 
centre of each. He is by nature a rover, and one of 
the most voracious inhabitants of the deep; while his 
relative, the stationary Murex, generally adheres to 
rocks and stones. These dissimilar shell-fish fur- 
nished the gorgeous purple of imperial Tyre. It is 
recorded, that the ancients were originally indebted 
for this discovery to the accidental circumstance of a 
shepherd’s dog having stained his mouth of such a 
colour, by the breaking of one of these shells on the 
sea-shore, as to excite the admiration of all who saw it. 
_ Some historians assign this event to the reign of 
Phoenix, second king of Tyre, who flourished rather 
more than five hundred years before the Christian 
era; others, to the time when Minos first reigned in 
Crete, 1439 years before the advent of our Lord. 
But the greatest number agree in giving the honour 
of the invention to the Tyrian Hercules. This 
renowned hero is said to have presented the first 
efforts of his ingenuity to the king of Pheenicia, who 
was so much delighted with the splendid effect pro- 
duced by this new colour, that he forbad the use of 
it to any of his subjects. 
Others again relate the story differently. By them 
