of the Moluccas near the Island of Celebes. Tliere is Uttle to be gathered from 

 its form ; but its parenchyma is said to have been the same with that of Firola 

 and Carinaria. If, therefore, this singular animal should possess a testaceous 

 appendage, it will probably be found from the above-mentioned analogy to Cari' 

 naria to resemble the shell of the first species of Nautilus of the ancients, rather 

 than that of the second. 



Most fortunately, however, the true inhabitant of the shell of the Pearly 

 Nautilus has at length been secured through the zeal and activity of George 

 Bennett, Esq. F.L.S. a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, 

 who, during a recent and protracted voyage among the Polynesian Islands, was 

 indefatigable in collecting materials of every kind for the advancement of na- 

 tural science. 



The circumstances connected with its capture are thus related in his Journal : 

 "Island of Erromanga, New Hebrides, August 24th, 1829. — Monday: fine 

 weather during the day. Thermometer at noon 79^. In the evening a Pearly 

 Nautilus {Nautilus Pompilius of Linneeus) was seen in Marekini Bay, on the 

 south-west side of the island, floating on the surface of the water, not far distant 

 from the ship, and resembling, as the sailors expressed it, a dead tortoiseshell- 

 cat in the water. It was captured, but not before the upper part of the shell 

 had been broken by the boat-hook in the eagerness to take it, as the animal was 

 sinking when caught. On its being brought on board, my attention was directed 

 to possessing the inhabitant, which I succeeded in procuring. I immediately 

 detached the animal from the fractured portions of the shell (to which it is at- 

 tached by two oval muscular attachments, one on each side), and placed it in 

 spirits, after making a pen-and-ink sketch of its external form. The animal 

 when I examined it after it was brought on-board, kept the tentacula closely 

 contracted, and the only evidence of vitality remaining in the animal was in a 

 slight contractile motion of the body. On laying carefully open that portion of 

 the shell which contains the chambers, it was found to contain water, which of 

 course immediately escaped. The colour is stated in Shaw's Lectures, vol. ii. 

 p. 166. (which I had on board at the time,) as being of a pale reddish-purple 

 colour, with deeper spots and variegations : the figures given in the same work 

 are very incorrect*. Tlie colour of the anterior part of the body, when the 



* They are copies of the figures given by Denys de Montfort, in the work above quoted. 



