Nautilus and Ammonite. 127 
‘ Who was the first sailor? tell me who can; 
Old father Jason !—no, you’re wrong, 
There was another ere Jason began, 
Don’t be a blockhead, boy! ‘Tightly and strong, 
Over the waters he went—he went, 
Over the waters he went. 
“Ha! ’tis nought but the poor little Nautilus— 
Sailing away in his pearly shell; 
He has no need of a compass like us, 
Foul or fair weather he manages well! 
Over the water he goes—he goes, 
Over the water he goes.” 
Many more poems of the like nature we might 
quote, for this little shelled cephalopod has been a 
favourite with the poets time out of mind, and in 
some instances they and the less imaginative natu- 
ralists have disagreed in their accounts of its form 
and operations; for instance, Pope says— 
“ Learn of the little Nautilus to sail, 
Spread the thin oar and catch the driving gale.” 
“ Catch a fiddle-stick,” say some naturalists, the 
little Nautilus does nothing of the sort; and if you 
go to him to learn navigation, you will never be 
much of a sailor. He may teach you how to sink 
to the bottom and rise again, and that kind of 
