13fi ARGONAUTA. 



A livino- Argonaut was captured at Long Branch. New Jersey, 

 by a fisherman, in August. 187(). It was kept alive for eight or 

 nine clays and made feeble attemjits to swim in its narrow con- 

 finement. — Am. Nat.^ xi, 243. 



The occurrence of the Argonaut on the Florida coast, in one 

 instance with the animal entire, is mentioned in Am. Nat., xii, 397. 

 The writer of the notice goes on to say that "■ in the Indian 

 Ocean he has seen it in calm weather sailing on the surface, as 

 described by old writers, but discredited by closet naturalists of 

 these days.'' What because of the shell, Avhen the vela were 

 used as sails ? 



A beautiful si)ecimen of Ar(/onaiUa compressa. Blainville, in 

 the cabinet of the Boston Society- of Nat. Hist., is the largest 

 known Argonaut shell. Its diameter is 10 inches.* It cost its 

 donor, Col. Thos. H. Perkins, $500.— 5osf. Soc. Proc, v, 3T0. 



Dr. H. Miiller observes that the female Argonaut appears 

 periodically in great numbers at Messina during the spawning- 

 season, but at other times her usual habitat is at the bottom in 

 deej) waters. The male is alwa^^s very small, not exceeding an 

 inch in length and is rarely met with : its hectocotylized arm is 

 detached during coition and is found in the mantle of the female, 

 where it enjoys a prolonged separate life, although unprovided 

 with digestive organs. The young female an inch in lengtli. has 

 no shell ; it is developed later. 



In South Australia, at certain seasons of the year, during the 

 prevalence of strong northerly winds, the shells of the female 

 Argonaut are washed ashore in considerable nvunbers.. Many of 

 these shells contain the animal in a living state ; but they soon 

 fall a prey to the sea-gulls l)y whom they are greedily devoured.f 



1. Group of A. Mann. 

 A. HIANS, Solander. PL 4»'), figs. 100-102. 



Animal small ; head long ; ventral aperture large ; aipiiferous 

 openings two; arms short, unequal, order of length 1, 2, 3, 4; 

 the webbed arms small, thick. 



* In same Proceedings, v, 35, Dr. Gould states the measurements of 

 this specimen to be 11^ by l]^ inches. 



f Angas, On the molluscan fauna of Soutli Australia, Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 156, 1865. 



