584 



from ancient authors and by experiment, that the primitive and 

 natural colour of the purple was formerly t as now, violet. 



Hence it would appear to be requisite for a painter to consider 

 the epoch when the personages who are represented clothed in purple 

 drapery lived, for the hue varied with the age. The properties of 

 the purple dye-stuff also render intelligible one ground of the esteem 

 in which the colour was held ; for, developed by the influence of 

 light, it could not fade, like the red of cochineal for example, but 

 must always have remained beautiful, even in the luminous and 

 dazzling atmosphere of Italy and the East. 



It would be difficult, with the scanty materials we possess, to 

 determine exactly the species employed by the ancients. Without 

 doubt Pliny has indicated the two genera Murex and Purpura of the 

 moderns by the names Purpura and Buccinum. It is probable that 

 Murex trunculus and brandaris, and Purpura hcemastoma, were 

 employed by the dyers ; but it would be difficult to identify the dif- 

 ferent species indicated by Pliny. Zoological investigations, accom- 

 panied by experiments which are all simply and easily made, would 

 perhaps lead to results more definite than can be obtained by the in- 

 terpretation of passages, if one could carry them oat on the shores of 

 countries formerly famous for their purple those of Tyre for example. 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 1. Animal with Purpura lapillus, with the pallial cavity laid open. 



1. Genital orifice. 3. Anal gland. 5. Branchiae. 



2. Anus. 4. Purpurogenic organ. 6. Organ of Bojanus. 

 Fig. 2. The animal simply removed from its shell. 



1. Branchiae. 2. Purpurogenic organ. 3. Anal gland. 



