NON-PULMONARY GASTEROPODS. 
427 
The animal presents a large head, furnished with two swollen 
c °nical tentacles, close together, and hearing an eye towards the 
middle of their external side. Its loot is large, bilobate in front, with 
u semicircular horny operculum. 
The Purpuras inhabit the clefts of rocks in marine regions covered 
"kh algae. On occasions they bury themselves in the sand. They 
° re ep about by the help of then - foot in pursuit of bivalves, which they 
°peu by means of their short snout. They are found in all seas ; but 
larger species and greatest numbers come from warm regions, 
" l0l -c especially from the Australian seas. 
The Purpura of the ancients was not, as is generally thought, a 
Vei ’milion red, but rather a very deep violet, which at a later period 
e 4me to have various shades of red. The secret of its preparation 
^as only known to the Phoenicians, that being most esteemed which 
e atue from Tyre. An English traveller, Mr. Wilde, has discovered on 
*Te eastern shores of the Mediterranean, near the ruins of Tyre, a 
° er tain number of circular excavations in the solid rock. In these 
ex cavations he found a great number of broken shells of Murex trun- 
e ulus. It is probable that they had been braised in great masses by 
Tre Tyrian workmen for the manufacture of the purple dye. Many 
s ^ e Us of the same species are found actually living on the same coast 
the present time. 
Aristotle, in his writings, dwells upon the purple. He says that 
*Tis dye is taken from two flesh-eating molluscs inhabiting the sea 
''Tick washes the Phoenician coast. According to the description 
p Ve R by the celebrated Greek philosopher, one of these animals 
a ‘l a very large shell, consisting of seven turns of the spiral, 
kidded with spines, and terminating in a strong beak ; the other had 
j 8 kell much smaller. Aristotle named the last animal Buccinum. 
' is thought that the last species is recognised in the Purpura 
Ca Pffliis (Fig. 268), which abounds in the Channel. Keaumur and 
Charnel obtained, in fact, a purple colour from this species, which 
|T°y applied to some stuffs, and found that it resisted the strongest 
y°. The genus Murex is supposed to have been the first species in- 
icated by Aristotle. 
Tip to the present time, the production of the purple remains a 
Mystery. It was long thought this fine dye was furnished by the 
s t°niach, liver, and kidneys; but M. Lacaze-Duthiers has demon- 
