258 Natural History of Molluscous Animals : 
and the manufacture is peculiar to Taranto.”* You can see 
a pair of gloves made of this material in the British Museum. 
The most costly and brilliant dye of which we read in his- 
tory was procured from shellfish. This is the Tyrian purple. 
Aristotle and Pliny give nearly the same account of the pro- 
cess by which it was procured. They tell us that the liquor 
was at first of the colour and consistence of thick cream, and 
was contained in a transparent and branching vessel, placed 
behind the neck of the animal. When the shells were small, 
the whole were bruised together in mills, but when large the 
fish were first removed, the receptacle containing the dyeing 
liquor taken out, laid in salt, and treated afterwards according 
to the rules of the art. It is very plain, from their account, 
that univalved shellfish did furnish this dye; and the opinion 
of Mr. Bruce, the traveller, that the purple-fish at Tyre was 
only a concealment of the Tyrian’s knowledge of cochineal +, 
though very confidently given, has not the slightest proba- 
bility. 
The particular species of shells which furnished the true 
Tyrian dye are not, however, certainly known. There were 
two at least, and they may have been more numerous, since 
they were found not only on the coasts of Asia, and in the sea 
adjoining Tyre, but on the coasts of Africa and Europe. ‘The 
shell described by Pliny as the Pirpura, corresponds very 
well with the Murex tranculus of Linnzeus (jig. 47. e) 5 and 
the Biaccinum of the Roman naturalist may be the Purpura 
patula (/) of Lamarck. The Parpura lapillus (g) of our own 
shores furnishes a liquid of similar qualities, and may have 
been resorted to by the ancients; but to suppose that any 
portion of the celebrated dye was procured from either the 
Scalaria clathrus (7), or Ianthina vulgaris (2), or Aphy¥sia 
depilans (Vol. II. p. 23. fig. 7. c), is idle conjecture, since the 
* Kdin. Encyclopedia, vol. xii. p. 372. 
+ Travels, vol.i. p. 63. Introduction. 
