4G FEBRUARY. 



white, which, however, becomes clingy with age, some 

 banded with brown, and some, especially the young and 

 half-grown ones, painted with a dull but soft purplish 

 hue. The older specimens have the inner surface of 

 the lip tinged with a rich rosy purple. This tint on the 

 shell we may receive as the advertisement of the colorific 

 property that resides within, a sort of sign-board to tell 

 us that this is the " genuine" purple -shell. And there 

 is little doubt that it is one of those enumerated by 

 Pliny, as used by the ancients for obtaining the renowned 

 dye of Tyre: though the principal, and that which 

 yielded the richest hue, was probably the Murex trun- 

 culus, a common Mediterranean shell, which does not 

 extend to our shores. 



My readers are, I dare say, familiar with the pretty 

 myth which professes to embody the discovery of the 

 purple dye. The Tyrian Hercules was one day walking 

 with his sweetheart along the shore, followed by her 

 lap-dog, when the playful animal seized a shell that 

 had just been washed up on the beach. Its lips were 

 presently dyed with a gorgeous purple tint, which was 

 traceable to a juice that was pressed out of the shell- 

 fish. The lady was charmed with the colour, and longed 

 to have a dress of it ; and, as wishes under such circum- 

 stances are laws, the enamoured hero set himself to 

 gratify her, and soon succeeded in extracting and apply- 



