202 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



as a production of Britain, " shells from which is pre- 

 pared a scarlet dye of the most beautiful hue, which 

 never fades from the effect of sun or rain." 



It is also stated in the ' Athenaeum ' of July 20, 1 850, 

 that the Nicaraguan Indians use a purple dye prepared 

 from shellfish. 



Pliny says that there are two kinds of fish that pro- 

 duce the purple dye, the Buccinum, and the Pur pur a, 

 purple or pelagia.* Murex trunculus is generally 

 considered to have yielded it, but Murex brandaris 

 was also used, and most certainly at Tyre, as we shall 

 presently read. 



We all know the story of the discovery of the Por- 

 phyra shellfish, by the dog of a Tyrian nymph loved 

 by Hercules ; which having picked up some of these 

 shells, and crushed them with its teeth, its mouth became 

 stained with purple dye. It is scarcely probable that 

 it could crush the strong hard shells of the Buccinum, 

 or Murex, but it might easily break the beautiful fragile 

 shell of the HeliXr ianihina, which we know yields a 

 purple juice ; for though a fable, the above was intended 

 to reiate a possible event; and we are told by Sir 

 Gardner Wilkinson, that the ianthina is common on 

 the coast about Tyre and Beyrout. And though so small, 

 being only the size of a small snail, three-quarters of 

 an inch in diameter, the water becomes completely 

 coloured all around it, whenever it is alarmed, and throws 

 out its purple liquid, f 



Athenaeus speaks of many different kinds of purple- 

 fish, some of them of large size, like those which are 

 found near Segeum and Lesteum ; and some small, like 



Pliny, 'Nat. Hist/ vol. ii. bk. ix. chap. 67. 



f See note, Kawlinson's Herodotus/ vol. ii. bk. iii. chap. 20, p^ 415. 



