pink. In many households the large 

 shells of this species are used for 

 flower pots, suspended from a hook 

 over the window by a set of chains, and 

 for this purpose they are certainly 

 very ornamental. 



The Apple Murex (Murexpomum) is 

 of home production, being found on 

 the shores of Florida and throughout 

 the West Indies. It is not as attractive 

 as the shells just mentioned, but is very 

 common, every collector possessing 

 several specimens in his cabinet. 



In the aperture of this species will 

 be noticed a dark brown object which 

 is known as an operculum or door, and 

 its use is to close the aperture when 

 the animal withdraws into its shell, so 

 that the latter may be safe from its 

 enemies. All of the rock shells 

 possess this organ, which is attached 

 to the back part of the animal's foot. 



A peculiar and somewhat rare shell 

 is the Horned Murex {Murex axitomis), 

 found in the Indian Archipelago, 

 whose shell is made up of many curi 

 ously fluted spines. The Burnt Murex 

 (Murex adustiis}, is an inhabitant of the 

 Indian Ocean, Japan and the Philip 

 pines, and its name, which signifies 

 burned, is well chosen, for all its spines 

 and frills and most of the shell are 

 black in color and look just as though 

 the shell had been scorched. The 

 aperature is often beautifully tinged 

 with pink or dark red. 



A common rock shell found in the 

 Mediterranean Sea as well as on the 

 Atlantic coast of France and Portugal 

 and the Canary Islands, is the Purple 

 Murex (Murex trunculus}. This is a 

 light brown, three-banded shell about 

 two inches in length and is famous as 

 having been used by the ancients to 



obtain their beautiful and rich purple 

 dye. On the Tyrian shore these shells 

 were pounded in caldron-shaped holes 

 in the rocks, and the animals were 

 taken out and squeezed for the dye 

 which they secrete. If the animal of 

 one of our common purpuras, a small 

 shell found along the Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts, be squeezed, it will 

 exude a purple fluid which will stain 

 fabrics a reddish purple. It is prob 

 able that much or most of the royal 

 purple of the ancients was obtained 

 from these lowly creatures. 



Although the most beautiful shells 

 of this family are supposed to live in 

 the warm, tropical seas of the Indian 

 Ocean, it is nevertheless true that 

 many of the most brightly colored 

 rock shells live in the warm waters of 

 Panama and Mazatlan. The Root 

 Murex (Murex radix) is one of these 

 shells, which attains a length of five 

 inches and weighs several pounds. 

 The shell is white or yellowish-white 

 and the spines and frills are jet black, 

 the two colors producing a peculiar 

 effect. Another beautiful shell from 

 the same locality (Panama) is the 

 Two-colored Murex (Murex bicolor\ 

 a shell attaining somewhat larger di 

 mensions than the last. The spines are 

 reduced to mere knobs in this species. 

 there are but a few frills, and only two 

 colors, the shell being greenish-white 

 and the aperture a deep red or pink, 

 plainly showing whence the name, bi- 

 color, two-colored. This shell is col 

 lected by thousands at Panama and 

 shipped all over the United States to 

 curiosity stores at summer watering 

 places and other vacation resorts, 

 where they are sold at from a few cents 

 to a dollar each, according to quality. 



SPRING HAS COME. 



Would you think it? Spring has come; 



Winter's paid his passage home; 

 Packed his ice-box gone half way 



To the Arctic pole, they say. 



