42 



The papillae upon that part of the head which is termed the hood, form a re- 

 markable character in this species ; and if they could be proved to be endowed 

 with nerves, would be peculiar to it among Invertebrate animals : but the great 

 difficulty experienced in tracing the nerves in the substance of the sheath renders 

 their existence as nervous papilla matter of conjecture only. Independently of 

 these, however, the sense of touch is amply enjoyed by this animal in the 

 numerous tentacles with which it is so singularly provided, and which, from 

 their softness of texture, their annulated surface, and supply of nerves, are 

 entitled to be considered organs of tact as much as instruments of pi'ehension. 



§ 6. Of the Generative System. 



Aristotle was evidently acquainted with the fact, that the Malakia, or Cephalo- 

 poda, were male and female ; for he speaks of them*, in contradistinction to the 

 Testacea, with a special reference to this circumstance : and the propriety with 

 which, according to this view, he classed the Nautilus secundus with the Ma- 

 lakia, notwithstanding it adhered to, and was covered with a shell like a snail, 

 is fully borne out by the dissection of the present individual, which was found 

 to possess those generative organs only which are pecuUar to the female. 



These consisted of an ovary, an oviduct, and, as in the Pectinibranchiate 

 Gasteropods, of an accessory glandular apparatus. The ovary (a. fig. 9. pi. 8.) 

 was situated at the bottom of the sac by the side of the gizzard, in a peritoneal 

 cavity peculiar to itself. It was an oblong compressed body, one inch and a 

 half in length, and an inch in breadth ; convex towards the lateral aspect, and 

 on the opposite side having two surfaces sloping away from a middle longitudinal 

 elevation. At the anterior and dorsal angle there was an orifice {b. fig. 9. pi. 8.) 

 about three lines in diameter, with a puckered margin, which conducted into the 

 interior of the ovary. The cavity of the ovary was simple and undivided. It 

 was filled with numerous oval bodies (c. c. fig. 9. pi. 8.) of different sizes, which 

 were attached by one extremity to the ovarian capsule, but were free and per- 

 forated at the opposite end ; and were smooth exteriorly, but rugose, and appa- 

 rently granular on the inner surface, owing to numerous minute wavy plicae 

 adhering thereto. The largest of these masses {capsuke oviferce) were four or five 



* Hist. Anm. lib. iv. cap. 11. 



