Life Beneath the Waves. 69 



were famous for wearing purple cloth, the 

 dye of which was procured from shells 

 B.C. 2112, and that it was also worn in 

 Greece B.C. 559, and that after having 

 been lost for ages, the method of producing 

 the Tyrian purple was discovered again in 

 the seventeenth century. 



The Venus shells are some of the most 

 attractive of British groups; not only are 

 their colours very pleasing, but their valves 

 are, moreover, ornamented with raised lines 

 or bands running parallel to the edges of 

 the shells. The specimen drawn is called 

 the Banded Venus; its surface is covered 

 with broad bands of a delicate pink, very 

 much raised, and separated from each 

 other by an indented line from the hinge 

 to the margin are three dark-purple streaks, 

 narrow at the top, and gradually increasing 

 in width as they approach the edge of the 



