Book IX. [land of BARBADOS 
Vergil (1), who hath given it a more {prightly and gallant Turn, « Her 
“ cules was in Love with a young Lady, a Native of that City, whofe 
“ Name was Tyros. A Dog that ufed always to attend her, creeping one 
‘* Day. among the Rocks, found a Purple-Fifh ; and, having broken the 
“ Shell, and eaten the Meat, returned to-his Miflref with his Chaps tinged 
“ with a purple or fcarletDye. TheLady, delighted with this uncommon 
“* and beautiful Tin@ure, declared to Flercules, when he was paying her the 
“ next Vifit, fhe would no longer receive his Addreffes, till he had procured 
‘her a Gown of a Colour as bright and {plendid, as what he faw on the 
* Dog’s Lips. This full and potitive Injun@ion forced the Hero to go 
“in queft of the Shell-Fith 3 which being found, -he not long after 
“ brought the Lady the Prefent the had required, and became the Inven- 
* tor of the Purple-Dye.” The Tyrians, it is evident, gave fo much 
Credit to the moft particular Circumftance belonging to this Tradition, 
viz. the Manner whereby the Purple-Fifh was firft difcovered, as to preferve 
the Remembrance of it long after on their Coins 3 fome of which may be 
now feen, with the Dog and Purple-Fifh, in the Cabinets of the Cu- 
rious. 
But to return: T thall offer my Remarks on the feveral Particulars of 
thefe Stories hereafter, in the Proce of this Differtation, and as they occur : 
And in this Place only take notice, that though thefe Authors differ very 
much in other Circumftances ; yet they agree in z4is, that the Dog, both 
that belonging to Hercules, and that of the young Lady, found the Shell 
among the Rocks, which Pliny fays is the ufual Habitation of the Murex, 
and the Place where I firft difcovered the Barbados Shell ; which we 
prefume is a ¢hird Circumftance in favour of our Shell, towards praying 
it to be the Murex of the Antients. 
473 
~ IV. Phe Flos or Tinfture of the Barbados Conch ftained, as we before fine 
obferved, the Hand of the Slave, with a florid and bright Red. Now "es 
W Tinéure. 
Ariftotle (m), in defcribing the wfpuxss, 7. e. the Murices (for of them only 
he muft be fuppofed to {peak), ufes almoft the very fame Words, faying, 
“¢ The Juice or Liquor, being either {queezed or emitted, dyes the Hand 
“ with a florid Colour.” — And Pliny (x), after him, affures us, that the 
Tin@ure of the Buccinum, mixed with that of the Purpura Pelagia, 
gives the latter au/leritatem illam, nitoremque illum, gui queritur, cocci, the 
Fulne[s and Brightnefs of Scarlet. Laftly, we obferve, that the Shell 
which Zyros's Dog picked up, emitted a Liquor, which tinged his Chaps 
with a Scarlet-Dye (2). This Cofur, then, we fappofe to be, among 
(!) De Rerum Invent. Lib. iti. ©. 6. 
(m) The Wordsare inferted into Atheneus, L. iii, C. 11. from Arifotle, by his Latin 
Tranflator ; and are thefe, « xpreffus tlle fuccus manum tingit florida colore.”” 
(2) Nat. Hitt. Lid. ix. C. 38. 
(0) “ Sua labia puniceo colore infecit.” P. Vergil. ibid. 
other 
