ink. In many households the large 
shells of this species are used for 
flower pots, suspended from a hook 
over the window by a set of chains, and 
for this purpose they are certainly 
very Ornamental. 
The Apple Murex (Murex pomum) is 
of home production, being found on 
the shores of Florida and throughout 
the West Indies. It is not as attractive 
as the shells just mentioned, but is very 
common, every collector possessing 
several specimens in his cabinet. 
In the aperture of this species will 
be noticed a dark brown object which 
is known as an operculum or door, and 
its use is to close the aperture when 
the animal withdraws into its shell, so 
that the latter may be safe from its 
enemicss, al) of, the’ rock» shells 
possess this organ, which is attached 
to the back part of the animal’s foot. 
A peculiar and somewhat rare shell 
isthe Horned Murex (Murex axicornis), 
found in the Indian Archipelago, 
whose shell is made up of many curi- 
ously fluted spines. The Burnt Murex 
(Murex adustus), isan inhabitant of the 
Indian Ocean, Japan and the Philip- 
pines, and its name, which signifies 
burned, is well chosen, for all its spines 
and frills and most of the shell are 
black. in color and look just as though 
the shell had been scorched. The 
aperature is often beautifully tinged 
with pink or dark red. 
A common rock shell found in the 
Mediterranean Sea as well as on the 
Atlantic coast of France and Portugal 
and the Canary Islands, is the Purple 
Murex (Murex trunculus). This is a 
light brown, three-banded shell about 
two inches in length and is famous as 
having been used by the ancients to 
obtain their beautiful and rich purple 
dye. On the Tyrian shore these shells 
were pounded in caldron-shaped holes 
in the rocks, and the animals were 
taken out and squeezed for the dye 
which they secrete. If the animal of 
one of our common purpuras, a small 
shell found along the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts, be squeezed, it will 
exude a purple fluid which will stain 
fabrics a reddish purple. It is prob- 
able that much or most of the royal 
purple of the ancients was obtained 
from these lowly creatures. 
Although the most beautiful shells 
of this family are supposed to live in 
the warm, tropical seas of the Indian 
Ocean, it is nevertheless true that 
many of the most brightly colored 
rock shells live in the warm waters of 
Panama and Mazatlan. The Root 
Murex (Murex radix) is one of these 
shells, which attains a length of five 
inches and weighs several pounds. 
The shell is white or yellowish-white 
and the spines and frills are jet black, 
the two colors producing a peculiar 
effect. Another beautiful shell from 
the same locality (Panama) is the 
Two-colored Murex (Murex bicolor), 
a shell attaining somewhat larger di- 
mensions than the last. The spines are 
reduced to mere knobs in this species, 
there are but a few frills, and only two 
colors, the shell being greenish-white 
and the aperture a deep red or pink, 
plainly showing whence the name, bi- 
color, two-colored. This shell is col- 
lected by thousands at Panama and 
shipped all over the United States to 
curiosity stores at summer watering 
places and other vacation resorts, 
where they are sold at from a few cents 
to a dollar each, according to quality. 
SPRING HAS COME. 
Would you think it? Spring has come; 
Winter’s paid his passage home; 
Packed his ice-box—gone—half way 
To the Arctic pole, they say. 
192 
