OCEAT^ GARDENS; 



purple, different species affording distinct tones of 

 colour. In form, these shells are somewhat like 

 our common Whelk, but finely marked with broad, 

 dark, spiral stripes. The ancient mode of extract- 

 ing the dye, as described by Pliny, was verified by 

 Mr. Wild, in 1838, in a very interesting manner. 

 In the neighbourhood of the site of the ancient 

 Tyre, he found, in the rocks on the sea-shore, a vast 

 number of round cavities, evidently the work of the 

 hammers and chisels of long ages past. These cavi- 

 ties varied in size, from that of a small flower-pot to 

 that of a cauldron, and round about them still lay 

 scattered immense masses of the remains of the 

 shells and bodies of the lltirex^ in many instances 

 aggluminated together. They had evidently been 

 pounded in those cavities, exactly as described by 

 Pliny, and the dye extracted according to the formulae 

 so graphically detailed by the ancient naturalist. 



The Purpura lapillus of our own shores yields a 

 similar dye, and may be kept in our Aquaria as a 

 reserve bottle of " marking-ink for the ingenious 

 Mr. Gosse has shown how its dye may be thus used 

 for household purposes. The shell is a small white 

 univalve, with one or more bands of pale brown. It 

 perishes on being immersed in fresh-water ; and a 

 thick vein of yellowish white, near the head, contains 



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