on the hiatus that divides the Cuttle-fish from the vertebrate animal, seems 

 equally disinchned to admit a conformity of organization between the Cepha- 

 lopoda and the inferior groups of Mollusca ; and, in concluding the anatomical 

 history of Octopus vulgaris, does not hesitate to declare, " that they form not 

 the passage to any other group, that they have not resulted from the develop- 

 ment of other animals, and that their own development has produced nothing 

 superior to them*." He urges, therefore, the grand importance of this class 

 arising from its isolated character ; and when it is considered that this impres- 

 sion was derived from an examination of the normal groups alone, it w^ill 

 readily be perceived how peculiarly an aberrant form demands the attention of 

 the zoologist. 



The size and singular formation of the shell of Nautilus Pompilius, and, above 

 all, the obscure notices which we possess respecting its inhabitant, — just suffi- 

 cient to excite without allaying curiosity, — have long rendered this animal a 

 peculiar desideratum in zoology. And as in other sciences residual phsenomena 

 become interesting in proportion as their number is diminished by extended in- 

 vestigation, so of late years the capture of this animal has been looked for with 

 increased sohcitude, from the perfection which the history of the known Cepha- 

 lopods has attained through the researches of the great anatomist above quoted. 

 Not only, however, is the acquisition of this species pecuharly acceptable from 

 its relation to the Cephalopods of the present creation, but it is at the same time 

 the living, and perhaps sole Hving, archet^'pe of a vast tribe of organized beings, 

 whose fossihzed remains testify their existence at a remote period, and in another 

 order of things. 



That this recent species of Nautilus should so long have escaped obser- 

 vation seems naturally a matter of surprise, when it is considered that the 

 shell is far from being uncommon ; and that so many enterprising individuals 

 have recently traversed the globe, exploring every region in pursuit of zoological 

 treasures. But the circumstances which the Baron Cuvierf so justly adduces 

 as tending to retard the progress of Malacology in general, seem especially to 

 have contributed to obscure the history of Nautilus Pompilius. Securely shel- 

 tered in the depths of the ocean at a remote part of the globe, the chances that 

 it should faU into the hands of the scientific observer have been necessarily 



* Memoirs sur le Poulpe, p. 43. t Mimoire sur le Genre Tritonia, p. 1. 



