60 LIVING CREATURES. 



first suggested to uncivilized man the idea of the instru- 

 ment called the trumpet. The spiny murex is the 

 military horn of certain African tribes. 



In ancient Palestine bee-keepers employed the conch 

 to make a whistling or hissing noise to entice their 

 bees. Says Isaiah: "And it shall come to pass that 

 the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost 

 parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in 



Cassis. Group of Voluta. 



Money Cowries. Shells. Conch Shells. 



the land of Assyria." With the trumpet shell the 

 Italian herdsman calls his cattle, and the Welsh farmer 

 wakes the silence of his mountain wilds. 



Among the collections is seen a rough, though very 

 attractive shell, covered with spines or horns. This is 

 the murex. The mollusk to which it belongs is fero- 

 cious, and attacks other mollusks. The shell is that 

 which was used by the ancient Syrians and Greeks in 

 the preparation of the Tyrian purple. The story is 

 that the purple coloring matter contained in the shell 



