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 f, 

 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 Purpura, corresponds very 

 well with the ikTurex trunculus of Linnaeus (Jig, 47. e) ; and 



=7ir^ 



the ^uccinum of the Roman naturalist may be the Purpura 

 patula ( f) of Lamarck. The Purpura 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 (/?), or lanthina vulgaris (?), or Aphj^sia 

 depilans (Vol. II. p. 23. fig. 7. c), is idle conjecture, since the 



* Edin. Enci/clopcsdia, vol. xii. p. 372. 

 -j- Travels, vol. i. p. 63. Introduction. 



