HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



slightly more opaque. Should the whole of the 

 shell be broken, the animal is unable to reconstruct 

 a new one, and dies. The eggs are kept within the 

 shell, and are so clustered around the spiral, that 

 when the animal propels itself, keel foremost, they 

 are not exposed to the swift current of water, which 

 otherwise might seriously interfere with their due 

 incubation. The shell, during the life of the animal. 



Fig. 6. Cuttle-fish. {Octopus vulgaris.) 



is flexible, and with a little pressure can be squeezed 

 together. When dry it becomes quite brittle, but 

 after being soaked in water for some time may be 

 bent as before. The males, not possessing any 

 shell, naturally do not require the means of making 

 one; and so we find that in the male Argonauta 



Fig. "• Bone of common Sepia. {Sepia officinalis.') 



tbe dorsal arms are not expanded into a fleshy disc, 

 as those of the female. The males, and also the 

 females when denuded of their shells, have very 

 much the appearance of the common Octopus, with 

 which they are nearly connected. Their usual 

 mode of progression is that of other cuttles, 



namely, by the expulsion of the water from the 

 gills ; they also crawl along the bottom of the sea. 

 The Argonauta is very abundant about Messina, 

 and even enters the port. It is most plentiful 

 about autumn, and frequents muddy spots. Madame 

 Power was inclined to believe that the Argonauta 

 really did use its two dorsal arms as sails, but 

 another close observer of these interesting crea- 

 tures, M. Sander Rang, at Algiers, altogether dis- 

 countenances the idea. He says, — " Watching what 

 took place around the Poulp (another name for 

 Cuttle), which we left contracted in the Argonaut 

 shell, we saw it extending itself from its shell and 

 protruding six of its arms ; then it threw itself into 

 violent motion, and travelled over the basin in al 1 

 directions, often dashing itself against the side. In 

 these different movements the body leaned a little 



Fig. 8. Common Sepia. {Sepia officinalis.) 



towards the forepart of the shell, and the long 

 slender arms, much extended and collected into a 

 close bundle, were carried before it, as well as the 

 tube, which showed itself open and protruded. The 

 locomotion was efl'ected in the ordinary manner of 

 Poulps, backwards, by contraction of the sac, and 

 expulsion of water through the funnel." Another 

 species of Paper Nautilus, Argonauta hians, is found 

 on the west coast of Africa and in the Chinese 

 seas; but although it has been discovered in a 

 fossil state in Piedmont, no Jiving species have 

 been taken in the Mediterranean. Argonauta Argo 

 attains the largest size of all the Paper Nautili, the 

 shell sometimes exceeding nine inches in diameter; 

 most specimens of other species would average 

 about three inches. 



