BOOK IX. Lxi. 129-131 



LXI. But if having come to this point our exposi- Kindtof 

 tion were to pass over elsewhere, luxury would *^p^^ 

 undoubtedly beheve itself defrauded and would find purpUand 

 us guilty of remissness. For this reason we will '^ 

 pursue the subject of manufactures as well, so that 

 just as the principle of foodstuifs is learnt in food, 

 so everybody who takes pleasure in the class of things 

 in question may be well-informed on the subject of 

 that which is the prize of their mode of hfe. Shell- 

 fish supplying purple dyes and scarlets — the material 

 of these is the same but it is difFerently blended — 

 are of two kinds : the whelk is a smaller shell 

 resembhng the one that gives out the sound of a 

 trumpet, whence the reason of its name, by means 

 of the round mouth incised in its edge ; the other 

 is called the purple, with a channelled beak 

 jutting out and the side of the channel tube-shaped 

 inwards, through which the tongue can shoot out; 

 moreover it is prickly all round, with about seven 

 spikes forming a ring, which are not found in the 

 whelk, though both shells have as many rings 

 as they are years old. The trumpet-shell chngs 

 only to rocks and can be gathered round crags. 



Another name used for the purple is ' pelagia.' ThHr 

 There are several kinds, distinguished by their ^^'yj " "" 

 food and the ground they hve on. The mud- 

 purple feeds on rotting sUme and the seaweed- 

 purple on seaweed, both being of a very common 

 quaUty. A better kind is the reef-purple, coUected 

 on the reefs of the sea, though this also is Ughter and 

 softer as weU. The pebble-purple is named after a 

 pebble in the sea, and is remarkably suitable for 

 purple dyes ; and far the best for these is the 



' MayJioff : enutritum. * in add, Mayhoff. 



251 



