THE ''SAILING'' OF THE NAUTILUS. 77 



seated in its boat-like shell, it thus floats over the smooth 

 surface of the ocean, steering and paddling with its other 

 arms. Should storm arise or danger threaten, its masts 

 and sail are lowered, its oars laid in, and the frail craft, 

 filling with water, sinks gently beneath the waves. 



When and where this picturesque idea originated I am 

 unable to discover. It dates far back beyond the range 

 of history ; for Aristotle mentions it, and, unfortunately, 

 sanctioned it. With the weight of his honoured name in 

 its favour, this fallacy has maintained its place in popular 

 belief, even to our own times ; for the mantle of the great 

 father of natural history, who was generally so marvellously 

 correct, fell on none of his successors ; Pliny, and .^lian, 

 and the tribe of compilers who succeeded them, having been 

 more concerned to make their histories sensational than to 

 verify their statements. 



Naturally, the Paper Nautilus has been the subject of many 

 a poet's verses. Oppian wrote of it in his ' Halieutics ' : — 



" Sail-fish in secret, silent deeps reside, 

 In shape and nature to the preke * allied ; 

 Close in their concave sheUs their bodies wrap, 

 Avoid the waves and every storm escape. 

 But not to mirksome depths alone confined ; 

 When pleasing calms have stilled the sighing wind, 

 Curious to know what seas above contain, 

 They leave the dark recesses of the main ; 

 Now, wanton, to the changing surface haste, 

 View clearer skies, and the pure welkin taste. 

 But slow they, cautious, rise, and, prudent, fear 

 The upper region of the watery sphere ; 

 Backward they mount, and as the stream o'erflows. 

 Their convex shells to pressing floods oppose. 

 Conscious, they know that, should they forward move, 

 O'ervvhelming waves would sink them from above, 



* The octopus. 



