LICHENS. 173 
the sale of which he realized in a short time a very 
large fortune. If, however, we are to believe 
Tournefort, the preparation of orchil was known 
to the ancient Greeks; the purple of Amorgos, 
one of the Cyclades Islands, with which the cele- 
brated tunics of the same name were dyed, being 
obtained from. this lichen. Some authors are of 
opinion that it was the orchil, and not the little 
murex, a species of shell-fish found on the coast 
of Syria and Phoenicia, which supplied the famous 
Tyrian purple, the exclusive badge of imperial 
rank referred to in Ezekiel: ‘Fine linen, with 
broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou 
spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple 
from the isles of Elishah was that which covered 
thee. The frequent representation of the little 
shell-fish on the coins dug up among the ruins of 
Tyre must, however, be regarded as a sufficient 
refutation of this idea.. The secret of the Rucellai 
was soon divulged, and the manufacture trans- 
ferred to Holland, where a considerable trade in 
this lichen is still carried on. Orchil is found 
in small quantities on rocks by the sea-side in the 
extreme south of England, and in the Guernsey 
and Portland Isles. In warm climates, however, 
it occurs in profusion, especially on the volcanic 
rocks, and the sea-shores of the Canary and Cape 
de Verde Islands, in the numerous isles of the 
