Chap. 48.] THE VAEIOTJS KINDS OP POLYPI. 4 J 9 



than true that its arms shoot forth again, like the tail in the 

 colotus^ and the lizard.^' 



CHAP. 47. THE NAUTILUS, OK SAILING POLYPUS. 



Among the most remarkable curiosities is the animal which 

 has the name^^ of nautilus, or, as some people call it, the 

 pompilos. Lying with the head upwards, it rises to the surface 

 of the water, raising itself little by little, while, by means of 

 a certain conduit in its body, it discharges all the water, and 

 this being got rid of like so much bilge-water as it were, it 

 finds no difficulty in sailing along. Then, extending back- 

 wards its two front arms, it stretches out between them a 

 membrane^^ of marvellous thinness, which acts as a sail 

 spread out to the wind, while with the rest of its arms it 

 paddles along below, steering itself with its tail in the middle, 

 which acts as a rudder. Thus does it make its way along the 

 deep, mimicking the appearance of a light Liburnian^" bark ; 

 while, if anything chances to cause it alarm, in an instant it 

 draws in the water, and sinks to the bottom.*^ 



CHAP. 48. (30.) THE YAEIOUS KINKS OF POLYPI ; THEIE 



SHEEWDNESS. 



Belonging to the genus of polypi is the animal known as the 



3^ Cuvier says, that Pliny states, in B. xxix. c. 28, that the colotis, or 

 colotes of the Greeks, is the same as tlieir ascalahotes, the " stellio" of the 

 Latins. This stellio is the same as the " gecko" of the moderns, and the 

 species known in Italy and Greece is the same as the "wall ^ecko" of the 

 French, or the tarente of the Provencals. From what Pliny says here 

 ahout its tail, it woidd appear to have been a lizard ; but its identity 

 with the stellio, Cuvier says, is very doubtful. It wiU be mentioned more 

 at length in B. xi. c. 31. 



^' It is very true, Cuvier says, that the tail of the gecko and lizard will 

 grow again after it has been cut off, but without vertebrae. As to the 

 arms of the polypus, he says, it is very possible, seeing that the horns of 

 the snail, which belongs to the same family, will grow again. 



38 This account of the nautilus, Cuvier says, the Argonauta argo of 

 Linnaeus, wonderful as it may appear, has been often confirmed by modern 

 observation. 



3^ This, Cuvier says, is not a membrane between the two feet or tenta- 

 cles, but a distinct membranous dclatation of the extremity of each of fhose 

 two organs. 



*o These vessels have been already remarked upon in Note 33 to c. 5 of 

 the present Book. 



*i Ai-istotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 61. 



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