THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



MARCH, 1839. 



Art. I. — Observations on the Poulp of the Argonaut. By Madame 

 Jeannette Power. l 



Having for many years past devoted to natural science, and 

 to enriching my cabinet with marine objects, the few hours 

 to be spared from domestic cares, for in fact few are the mo- 

 ments that one of my sex and condition can enjoy in study, — 

 the poulp of the argonaut specially fixed my attention, from 

 so much having been said on the subject by naturalists. I 

 have since been enabled to follow up a series of observations 

 upon this cephalopod, which other naturalists could not per- 

 haps have done, for want of those opportunities and means 

 with which I have been fully supplied. I therefore deemed 

 it incumbent upon me to make careful inquiries on the most 

 disputed points which regard the physiological condition of 

 the animal, and consequently devoted myself for some years 

 to an uninterrupted course of observations ; and after repeated 

 experiments, I have at last been able to obtain data which 

 lead to very important results : first, by assuring myself that 

 this mollusc is the constructor of the shell which it inhabits ; 

 secondly, by clearing up doubts with regard to the first de- 

 velopement of its eggs ; and, finally, by making known many 

 new facts respecting its habits. I will therefore present to 

 you, Gentlemen, after a short sketch of the state of zoological 

 knowledge as regarded the Argonauta Argo when I commen- 

 ced my experiments, an account of the method followed by 

 me in my researches, and the physiological inferences dedu- 

 ced from them. 



1 " Osservazione fisiche sopra il polpo dell' Argonauta Argo, della Socia 

 Correspondente Madame Jeannette Power." Read at the Meeting of 26th 

 November, 1836. From the xii. vol. of the Academy, Catania. 



Vol. III.— No. 27. n. s. l 



