PHOTOTYPE PLATE NO. XL//. 65 



Respecting the Nautilus, it is worth remarking that, although the shells are cast in some 

 abundance on the island beaches of Torres Strait, and the northern portion of the Barrier, the 

 living tenant is very rarely seen there. Direct evidence, including that obtained by the Clial- 

 /(V/^T('r expedition, points to its being an essentially deep-water species, the only living example 

 obtained throughout that scientific cruise being one that was dredged up off Matuka Island 

 from a depth of 320 fathoms. At the same time, there are many older records, dating from 

 the time of the Dutch naturalist, Romphius, 1705, testifying to the Pearly Nautilus having been 

 taken at Batavia, the Moluccas, and the Thousand Islands of the Malay Archipelago, in the crab 

 and crayfish pots set by the natives, in comparatively shallow water. A single, somewhat doubt- 

 ful, instance of the occurrence of the living animal, has fallen within the author's experiences 

 in Australian seas. This was in blue, abyssal, water off the northern territory, midway between 

 Cambridge Gulf and Port Darwin, when the author was returning on board H.M.S. Myrmidon, 

 after accompanying the vessel's surveying cruise to the first-named locality. While we were seated 

 at breakfast the watch reported that a Nautilus shell, " containing something that looked very much 

 like a cauliflower," had drifted past the ship's side. With the enthusiasm that distinguished 

 him on all occasions when a scientific issue was at stake, the Commander, the Hon. H. P. Foley 

 Vereker, R.N., immediately "wore" the ship, and had a boat lowered, with the object of 

 capturing the prize. To our great chagrin, the quest was unsuccessful, the creature, apparently 

 alarmed by the wash of the screw, having taken soundings. That the animal which floated 

 past was a live Nautilus, there seemed little or no reason to doubt, in face of the rough but very 

 pertinent description of the object reported by the blue-jacket. 



The sponge table in the foreground of this illustration supports a collection of the 

 lesser ornamental shells of the Barrier region, too numerous to enumerate individually. Smaller 

 mother-of-pearl shells, belonging to the several varieties described in the pearl-shell-fishery 

 chapter, are posted in the front, one of these, towards the left, having erected vertically against 

 it the typical example of the abnormally elongate oyster, Ostrca morda.x, var. cornitcopiafonnis, 

 delineated in its natural size in Plate XIV. of the chromo-lithographic series. The hetero- 

 geneous mass of smaller shells that fills up the more posterior recesses of the sponge includes 

 numerous representatives of the genera Ovulum, Conus, Cypraea, Strombus, Voluta, Ptero- 

 coras, Melo, Oliva, Dolium, Harpa, Murex, and many others. The Spotted or Tiger cowries, 

 Cyproca tigris, are present in abundant variety in this series, and represent one of the 

 commonest forms in the reef. The rarer dark-mahogany or almost black-mouthed species, 

 with pale yellow spots, Cypnxa mauritiana, and the ocellated C. argus, also find place in the 

 collection. The pure glossy white shells of the " Poached-egg " or porcelain shell Ovulum 

 ovum are likewise conspicuous. This species is extensively used by the natives of Torres 

 Strait, New Guinea, and the Barrier district generally, for the decoration of their canoes, 

 and in the manufacture of articles of personal adornment. 



