III. 



PURPURAS.— MUREXES. 



Looking over the shells upon the table, 

 Miss Bremely found a pretty tuberculated shell 

 of the MuricidcB family. She told Undine its 

 name — Pv/rpura emarginata. 



" It has a pretty relative," said Miss Breme- 

 ly, " which is used by the South Sea Islanders 

 as a drinking cup, and both belong to that 

 famous family which yielded the royal purple 

 dye anciently so highly prized by those who 

 wore ' soft raiment ' and dwelt in ' kings' 

 houses.' 



" The dye was a colorless fluid which became 

 purple upon exposure to the, sun; it was but a 

 drop, and secreted in a veinlike sac near the 

 head of the little Mwrex. No wonder that 

 purple stufPs were costly, being valued, we 

 are told, as high as two hundred dollars a 

 pound. 



" To-day, beside the ruined city which gave 

 its name to these purples, lie other ruins — piles 



A 27 



