MOLLUSCA. 



183 



close to the head, and when applied to white linen when the 

 buu is bright, is first green, then blue, changing to a reddish 

 tint, and finally purple. It is not, however, to be supposed 

 that this fluid is identical with that dye for which Tyi-e was 

 so celebrated when its " merchants were princes, and its 

 traffickers the honourable of the earth;" and which was re- 

 served for the brilliant hangings of temples, or the costly 

 robes of priests and kings. By what species of shell this dye 

 was produced, and how it was extracted, have been questions 

 respecting which much difference of opinion has prevailed. 

 Our latest information on tlio 

 subject is derived from Mr. 

 Wilde,* who, when visiting tho 

 ruins of Tyre, in 1838, found 

 on the shore "a number of 

 round holes cut in the solid 

 sandstone rock, varying in size 

 from that of an ordinary metal 

 pot to that of a large boiler." 

 Within these, and on the ad- 

 jacent beach, he found largo 

 quantities of shells broken, ap- 

 parently by design, but subse- 

 quently agglutinated together. 

 Hence he inferred, that the 

 shells had been collected, in 

 large masses, into these holes or 

 mortars, to be pounded in the 

 manner mentioned by Pliny, 

 for the purpose of extracting 

 the fluid which the annual con- 

 tained. Tiiis opinion received confirmation from his finding 

 that the broken shells of this conglomerate proved, on exa- 

 mination, to be the Murex trunculus, one of the species from 

 which the Tyrian dye is known to have been obtained ; and, 

 also, that several of the recent shells, exactly agreeing with 

 these, were found on the adjoining beach. The genus contains 

 shells of gi-eat beauty {Fig. 170), some of which are furnished 

 with long and delicate spines. 



'/\g. 170. — MCREX. 



• Narrative of a "Voyage to 'Madeira, TenerifTe, &c. 2d edition, page 

 378; and Appendix to the same work, page 029. 



