S/iell' TriDitpets and their Distribution. x,l 



Holv Week ill the Catliedral of Genoa, the Triton iiodiferus 

 used to be sounded." 



In Ill's i)apcr on " I'urple Dyeing in Central America,"'* 

 Professor von Martens refers to the survival of the use of 

 shell-trumpets at the present day in certain localities in 

 southern France, Elba, Corsica, and Sicily, for the sum- 

 moning of fishermen and field labourers. 



In the 1 8th century the Corsican militia, under I'aoli, 

 cmplo\'ed ihcm instead of drums and trumpets.'' 



Triton shells are still in common use in Crete, 

 especially among the village guards, as a means of raising 

 an alarm or calling for help.'^ 



As in the case of Shell-purple,'^ the island of Crete 

 figures very prominently in the early use of shell-trumpets. 



Mariani has i)ublished a Minoan seal on which a 

 woman is sounding the shell of a Triton before the sacred 

 horns of an altar.'" This seal, which was found in the 

 Idaean cave, is also described and figured by A. J. Evans 

 in his " Mx'cenaean Tree and IMllar Cult.'"^ "Here," he 

 tells us, " a female votary is seen blowing a conch-shell 

 or triton before an altar of the usual Mycenaean shape. 

 Above the altar is seen a group of three trees, apparently 

 cypresses, and immediately in front of them the ' horns of 

 consecration.' To the right of the altar is a rayed symbol, 

 to the left is apparcntlx' another altar base, with a conical 



'' //'/./. p. 365, quoiiii!^' A. Issel, ''Rcvista Ligure di Scien/e, 

 Letterc ed Arli," Geneva, 1908, p. 10. 



'- Verhand, Berlin, i'.f.ss. Ant/nop. Ethtiol. unci Urges., 1898, p. 485. 

 '- Von Martens, o/^. lil ., p. 485. quoting Bo-swell. "Description of 

 Corsica, ■■ 176S, p. 183. 



" A. j. V.\'3.wi. /otirn. Iltllatii SliidifS, xxi., 1901, p. I42. 

 " See cliaptti 1 . 



"■■ L. Mariani, " Monttiiuuti Anlifi." vi., 1895, [). 178, f. 12. 

 '" A. |. Evans, pp. cil., \>. 142, f. 25. 



