Some are nearly white, some greyish, others buff striped with brown.

Some, again, are smooth, others nearly as rough as the _Murex trunculus_.

The _Helix ianthina_, which is included by certain writers among the molluscs employed for dyeing purposes by the Phoenicians,[813] is a shell of a completely different character, smooth and delicate, much resembling that of an ordinary land snail, and small compared to the others.

It is not certain, however, that the _helix_, though abounding in the Eastern Mediterranean,[814] ever attracted the notice of the Phoenicians.
The molluscs needed by the Phoenician dyers were not obtained without some difficulty.

As the Mediterranean has no tides, it does not uncover its shores at low water like the ocean, or invite man to rifle them.