PERIWINKLES WHELKS. 27 



records are not reliable. The Greeks were by far too 

 vain a race to admit that any great discovery did not 

 originate with themselves. They attribute the dis- 

 covery of the Tyrian purple to Hercules (500 B.C.), 

 or rather to a little dog belonging to Hercules. As 

 the story goes, this little dog, happening to wander 

 along the Tyrian sea-shore, came back with his mouth 

 all purple, and the nymphs of Tyras, a favourite of 

 Hercules, were so delighted with the colour, that she 

 bade him see her no more until he brought her a 

 robe dyed purple, like the colour of his little dog's 

 mouth. What would an enamoured man have done 

 when thus conjured ] How much more a demi-god ? 

 Hercules promised to oblige her if he could; so 

 tracking the little dog's footsteps to see where they 

 led, and what he would set about, he followed him 

 to the sea-shore, where the animal began to eat shell- 

 fish of two peculiar sorts the Eucdnum and Pur- 

 pura. Hercules is reported to have thereupon col- 

 lected some of these shell-fish, and extracted from a 

 receptacle in the throat the celebrated Tyrian purple, 

 In this way the Tyrian dye-stuff continued to be 

 obtained by careful dyers; some however, less con- 

 scientious than Hercules, pounded the shell-fish in a 

 mortar, and incorporated the fine dye-stuff with other 

 animal juice." 



The same writer also states, that, " in order to im- 

 part the last shade of beauty, the juice of both shell- 

 fish (Eucdnum and Purpura) is necessary." But this is 

 an error, the latter only being requisite for the purpose. 



