THE ARGONAUT.—THE NAUTILUS. 85 
straight,’ while the two winglike membranes, 
that we loved to think were silvery sails, are 
now supposed to be the secreting organs used 
in fabricating the boat of pearl. These wise 
observers have found, too, that it 1s only the 
female argonaut who rides like a princess, the 
males being diminutive and possessed of no 
insignia of royalty. 
“The little princess sits serenely in her 
shell, but is in no way attached to it, and might 
unharmed be lifted out and placed in another. 
“The shell, besides serving as her boat, is 
the pearly cradle or little ark in which the 
infant Argonauta are borne in safety through 
the floods. ‘The eggs are fastened to filamen- 
tary stalks and by these to the involuted spire 
of the shell, and are usually concealed by the 
body of the mother. 
“This shell of the argonaut as you see,” 
said the doctor, reverting to the shell which 
Undine still held in her hand, “is thin and 
brittle as glass; hence while thousands sail the 
seas but few are found upon the shores. 
“On the contrary, the shell of the nautilus 
is thick and strong, and found upon many 
tropic shores. The pearly nautilus is the one 
with which we are best acquainted, and seems 
to be the most abundant. This shell is some- 
