PUR 



PUR 



fever was nearly fynonimous with putrid, or malignnut fever. 

 See PuTECiii/t;, and Prui-uRA. 



PuRl'LE Apple, in Botany. Sec Annoxa. 



PuRFi.E Fifi, Purpura, in Natural Hijlory, the name of a 

 genus of fhell-fifh, the cliarafters of wliich are ihefe : it is 

 an univalve (hell, jagged and befet from head to tail with 

 fpines, tubercles, umbos, or ftrise. The mouth is fmall and 

 roundifh ; the tail is fhort, and ufually the bafe runs out into 

 a long beak. Sec Dyeing. 



It has been ufual with moft authors to confound together 

 the genera of the murex and purpura, and to ufe the words 

 as fynonimous : but though there is fome external refem- 

 blance between many of the (hells of the two genera, yet 

 they are eafily dillinguidicd by this, that the mouth of the 

 purpura is Icfs long, and is lefs dentatcd and alated than that 

 •of the murex. The body and the head of the fhells of this 

 genus are not fo elevated as thofe of the murex kind, and 

 are not covered with points or buttons at the mouth. If a 

 (hell is therefore found to have a fmall, fmooth, and round 

 mouth, and a body covered with undulated leaves, as it were, 

 like thofe of favory or endive, and fometimes witli long 

 points, and its tail, whether long or fliort, be hollowed 

 and fomewhat bent, this may be called a purpura, and 

 not a murex. Linnoeus makes the purpura a fpecies of the 

 murex. 



The ancients diftinguiflicd three kinds of purpura ; one 

 which had a long and crooked tail, made hollow like a tube 

 or pipe ; a fecond which had either no tail at all, or at the 

 moft a very fhort one ; and a third which had no fpiral head, 

 or, as we fhould exprefs it, no clavicle. 



On examining the whole family of the purpura, we may 

 diltinguifh four remarkable fpecific differences among them. 

 The nrft of thefe comprehends thofe purpura which have 

 the body of the fhell garnifhed with a fort of undulated 

 foliage in clouded ridges, and have a (hort and crooked tail. 

 The fecond comprehends thofe which have the body of the 

 {hell covered with acute points, and have a long tail. The 

 third comprehends thofe which have as long a tail as the 

 former, but have a fmooth body, or at the utmoft have only 

 a few (light protuberances and wrinkles on it. And the 

 fourth takes in thofe which are fmall, and have an elevated 

 clavicle, a fliort crooked tail, and the body of which is co- 

 vered either with flender fpines or hairs. 



This fpecies of fifh, as well as the murex, ferved among 

 the ancients to dye the fine purple colour they were fo fond 

 of, and fome of the buccina i^e. g. the lapUlus of Linnaeus) 

 have been of late found to have the fame juice. The pur- 

 pura and murex are both fifhed up in great plenty in the 

 gulf of Tarentum ; but the fmall quantity of the coloured 

 iuice which each fifh contains, and the neceffity of ufmg 

 It before the animal dies, makes it impolTible to bring it to 

 any regular article of trafiic. The ancients ufed this colour 

 only on cotton and woollen fluffs ; whereas our cochineal, 

 which was unknown to the ancients, flrikes equally well on 

 fdks and fluffs. Thefe fhells are alfo found in various parts 

 of the Mediterranean. 



In the feas of the Spanifh Weft Indies about Nicoya, is 

 found a fhell-fifh, which perfectly refembles the ancient pur- 

 pura, and, in all probability, is the very fame. This fifh, Gage 

 tells us, ufually lives feven years ; it hides itfelf a little be- 

 fore the dog days, and continues to difappear for three hun- 

 dred days running. 



They are gathered plentifully in the fpring, and, by rub- 

 bing one againft another, they yield a kind of faliva or thick 

 glair, refembling foft wax : but the purple dye is in the throat 

 of the fifh, and the finefl part is lodged in a little white vein ; 

 the reft of the body is of no ufe. He adds, that the chief 



Vol. XXIX. 



riches of Nicoya confift in this fifh. Cloth of Segovia, 

 dyed with it, is fold for twenty crowns the ell ; and none 

 but the greateft Spanifli lords ufe it. 



There arc alfo found upon the coafts of the South-fta, 

 near the equator, in the neighbourhood of point St. He- 

 lena, in the province of Guayaquil, certain fea-fnaiis, as 

 Don Antonio de UUoa calls them, flicking to the ftoncs, and 

 covered by th" fea at high water, about the lize of fmall nuts, 

 which contain a liquor or juice that has the true colour of 

 purple. The colour is very bright, and fo durable, that 

 wafhing rather increafcs than diminifhes its luftre, nor does 

 it fade or decay by ufe and wearing. Woven ftuffs are not 

 dyed with it, but only cotton threads. As foon as a fufficieut 

 quantity of the liquor is fqueezcd from the fifh, the cotton 

 thread is drawn througli it, and it takes and retains the tinc- 

 ture without any farther trouble ; but the purple colour is 

 not difcovered till the thread is dry, the juice being of a 

 milky colour at firft, but it foon changes into green, and at 

 laft fettles in a purple. 



Bcfides the Indian purple fifhes, we have others much 

 nearer home. In the Philofoph.Tranfaft. abr. vol. ii. p. 823, 

 we have an account of purple fifh difcovered in 1684, by 

 Mr. W. Cole, on the coafts of Somerfetfhire, South Wales, 

 &c. where it is found in great abundance. The modern 

 purple fifh, M. Reaumur obferves, is a kind of buccinum, 

 a name given by the ancients to all fifhes whofe fhell 

 bears any refemblance to a hunting-horn ; and it appears 

 from Phny, that part of the ancient purple was taken 

 from this kind of fhell-fifh : fo that this may be efteemed 

 a recovery of what had been fuppofed entirely loft. See 

 Dyeing. 



The fifh, he obferves, is good ; and adds, that there are 

 feveral kinds of it differing in fize and fhell, and alfo in 

 the colour of the tinging liquor. There are fome found 

 on the coafts of Poiftou. 



The Caribbce iflands have likewife their purple fifti. This 

 is called burgan, being of the fize of the end of the fin- 

 ger, and refembling our periwinkles ; its fhell is of a 

 brownifh azure, its flefh white, its inteftines of a very 

 bright red, the colour of which appears through the body ; 

 and it is this that dyes the froth, which it cafts forth when 

 taken, and which is at firft of a violet hue, bordering on 

 blue. 



To oblige them to yield the greater quantity of froth, they 

 lay them on a plate, and fhake and beat them againft one an- 

 other ; upon which the plate is immediately covered with the 

 froth, which is received on a linen cloth, and becomes purple 

 in proportion as it dries. 



P. Labat obferves, that if this be the real Tyrian purple, 

 the fecret of preparing and fixing it is loft ; this colour 

 being found to dwindle and diflipate, in proportion as the 

 linen dved with it is waflied. 



The purpura lives on other fifh. It ufually hides itfelf at 

 a fmall depth in the fand, fometimes even in frefh-water 

 rivers, and as it lies hid, it thrulls up a pointed tongue, 

 which wounds and kills any thing that comes over it. We 

 frequently find fea-fliells with round holes bored through 

 them, as regularly as if made with a boring inftrument : 

 thefe are generally allowed to be made by the tongue of the 

 purpura, in order to its feeding on the fifh within, 



The purpura has two horns like tliat of a fnail ; and 

 Fabius Columna fays, that they have eyes in thefe, not 

 placed at the ends, as in the fnail, but in the middle of each 

 horn. 



The purpura is a fhell-fifh very well known, and has been 

 known alfo in almoft all times to afford a purple hquor ; but 

 as there has been no method difcovered of bringing this li- 



F quor 



