3-24 



Gasteropoda. 



- MOLLUSCA. MuRiciD^. 



fleveloped tubercle — see the accompanying figure of 

 Murex [CMcortus) iiiflatus, fig. 213. These tubercles, 

 however, in many instances are themselves produced 

 into varices, and then the species have six. Most of 

 the species of Chicorcus yield a purple dye, and though 

 the little common purple shell, Pin^Jiira lapillus, was for 

 a long time considered the shell which yielded the 

 celebrated Tyrian dye, later observations and researches 

 would seem to prove, that perhaps the most common 

 shell used by the ancients was a species of this genus, 

 Murex {Chicorms) trunculus. Fabius Columna, a 

 Neapolitan nobleman, and the best autliority on this 

 question, maintained that the purpura of Pliny, who 

 gives a good account of the manner in which this dye 

 was procured, is the Murex trunailus, and his state- 

 ment has been apparently confirmed by a late traveller 

 who had visited the site of the ancient Tyre. In a 

 communication made to the Royal Irish Academy, Dr. 

 Wilde stated, that having been engaged in investigating 

 tlie ruins of that ancient city, he discovered several 

 circular apertures or reservoirs cut in the solid sand- 

 stone rock close to the water's edge, along the southern 

 shore of the peninsula. These in shape resembled 

 large pots, and varied in size from two to eight feet 

 in diameter, and from four to five in depith. Some 

 were in clusters, others isolated, and several were 

 collected in pairs near a conduit about a foot deep. 

 Many of these pots or reservoirs were filled with 

 breccia, solely composed of broken up shells, bound 

 together by carbonate of lime, &c. This mass, a portion 

 of which was exhibited to the Academy, was exceedingly 

 heavy, of adamantine hardness, and the shells of which 

 it was composed, appeared to be all of one species, and 

 from the sharpness of their fracture were evidejitly 

 bioken by art, and not worn or water washed. The 

 shells, he says, were examined by eminent naturalists, 

 and were pronounced to be the Murex trunculus. 

 Pliny informs us that when the shells were small they 

 were bruised in mortars or certain mills; and Dr. 

 Wilde expressed it as liis opinion that the reservoirs 

 he discovered at Tyre were the vats or mortars in 

 which the shells were broken up to obtain the dye. 

 The liquor which composed the dye is contained in a 

 vein placed behind the neck, and according to the old 

 writers was at first of the colour and consistence of 

 cream. This Tyrian purple was the most costly and 

 brilliant dye of which we read in history. Wool which 

 had been well dyed, in the reign of Augustus sold for 

 about £36 per pound weight. None but those invested 

 with the very highest dignities of the state were allowed 

 to use it, and laws were enacted inflicting severe 

 penalties, and even death, upon all who should presume 

 to wear it under the dignity of an emperor. It was 

 discovered by the Phoenicians, and is described by 

 Pliny as " that glorious colour, so full of state and 

 majestie, that the Roman lictors with their rods, 

 halberds, and axes, make way for; this is it that 

 graceth and setteth out the children of princes and 

 noblemen ; this niaketh the distinction between a 

 knight and counsellor of state ; this is called for and 

 put on when they ofl'er sacrifice to pacify the gods ; 

 this giveth a lustre to all sorts of garments; to conclude, 

 our great generals of the field, and victorious captains, 



in their triumphs weave this purple in their mantles, 

 interlaced and embroidered with gold among. No 

 marvel, therefore, if purples be so much sought for; 

 and men are to be held excused if they run a madding 

 after purples." — {Holland's Pliny.) About the middla 

 of the twelfth century, the dyers at Tyre were inter- 

 rupted in their pursuits, and from that time the 

 knowledge of their practice seems to have died com- 

 pletely away. But though the art of dying purple was 

 lost to the places which gave it birth, we find that a 

 similar dye was used in our island at a very early 

 period, and its employment continued down to the end 

 of the seventeenth century. The mollusc, as we shall 

 see when we come to the genus Purpura, used in this 

 country was the Purpura lapillus. 



THE SPINDLE SHELLS (genus Fusus of Lamarck) 

 are characterized by the shells possessing only radi- 

 mentary or no varices, the inner lip being smooth, and 

 the operculum ovate, acute, with the nucleus apical. 

 The recentspeciesare numerous, upwards of one hundred 

 having been described, and varying a good deal from 

 each other in several characters, have been distributed 

 through four sub-genera or groups. They are world- 

 wide in their distribution, being found in Asia, America, 

 the Pacific ocean, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. 

 Some of them have the mouth of the shell produced 

 into a long and nearly straight canal, the shell itself 

 being spindle-shaped, and the spire elongate, many 

 whirled, and conic. These constitute the genus Colus. 

 In the species of this genus, the animal is red. The 

 type is the shell which was described by Linnaeus as 

 Murex colus, the Fusjis colus of Lamarck, and others. 



Other species have the canal very short and straight, 

 the shell itself of an ovate fusiform shape, with a conic 

 spire and a papillary apex. These constitute the genus 

 Chrysodomus, and in the species belonging to it, the 

 animal is olive. 



THE MUEEX ANTIftUUS of LinnKUS, the Fusus 

 antiquus of Lamarck and succeeding authors, is the 

 type of this group. The shell of Chrysodomus antiquus 

 is oval, sub-fusiform, and densely and strongly striateil, 

 and large specimens measure seven inches in length, 

 and five in breadth. It is a native of many parts of 

 Great F.ritain, ranging from five to thirty fathoms, and 

 preferring as its habitat, shell banks. It is a gracefully 

 formed shell, and is used by the natives of Zetland as a 

 lamp. It is suspended horizontally by a cord, and tlie 

 cavity of the sliell being filled with oil, the canal serves to 

 hold the wick. A sketch of this primitive lamp may be 

 seen in Dr. Johnston's Introduction to Conchology, and 

 he exclaims, " e.\amine the sketch, and then tell me if it 

 is not probable that some of the most elegant patterns 

 left us by the Greeks have been suggested by a similar 

 primitive practice ? " The animal is used by the fisher- 

 men on our coast as a bait. The egg capsules of this 

 species and the young have been desciibed by Edward 

 Forbes and Dr. Johnston. The capsules are half an 

 inch in diameter, convex outwardly, and concave on 

 the inner side. They are coarse and corrugated, and 

 are piled one above another in a conical heap, three 

 inches or so high, two in diameter, and attached firmly 

 by a broad basis to rocks in deep water. Previous to 

 their being excluded, the young are perfectly formed, 



