UNIVALVES. 125 
it is recorded that a favourite dog of Hercules having 
stained his mouth with a shell, which he had broken 
on the shore, Tyras, a nymph to whom Hercules was. 
attached, was so charmed with the beauty of the 
colour, that she vowed never to see her lover again, 
unless he procured her a purple suit; and that 
Hercules, anxious to gratify her wishes, immediately 
gathered a considerable number of the shells, and 
having extracted the colouring matter, presented her 
with the robe she so ardently desired. Such are the 
different traditions respecting the origin of the purple 
dye, though involved in that obscurity which per- 
vades the discovery of all the arts connected with the 
ordinary wants and necessities of man; which have 
originated in times beyond the reach of authentic 
history or tradition, and are the offspring of his 
natural faculties, directed by the great primitive 
wants of food, shelter, and raiment. 
But though neither history nor tradition has pre- 
served any authentic information with regard to the 
origin of this interesting art, yet, from analogy, as 
well as observation on the practice of barbarous 
nations at the present day, we can readily credit the 
fables of the latter with regard to the rude beginnings 
from which the art has sprung. The rich and gaudy 
plumage of birds, the finely-spotted skins of animals, 
coloured shells, stones, and such other substances.as 
