170 THE NAUTILUS. 



First, then, naturalists have been greatly in doubt, 

 as to the claim of the animal cephalopod to the shell 

 it is found to inhabit, and many arguments have been 

 adduced, that, like the hermit crabs, (pagarus,) this 

 cephalopod was an intruder into a habitation not con- 

 structed by itself; but either usurped during the life, 

 or taken possession of after the death of its lawful and 

 natural proprietor — a proprietor, however, undiscovered. 

 Among scientific men who have adopted these views, 

 are to be enumerated some of the most eminent (cer- 

 tainly not all) both in France and England. 



Secondly ; From the earliest times to the present, 

 it has been a commonly received opinion, that the arms, 

 usually called the sails, were used by the animal to 

 catch the breeze as it floated on the calm surface of 

 the sea, and that thus it was propelled on its voyage. 



Now, with respect to the first point, it is incontestably 

 proved^ that the cephalopod of the argonaut is truly 

 the maker of its own dwelling ; and that, consequently, 

 it is not a parasite, like the pagarus. Specimens in 

 every stage of growth, from young individuals, the shell 

 of which only weighed a grain and a half, up to those 

 of the ordinary size, have been transmitted to England 

 by Madame Power, and accurately examined by Mr. 

 Owen, Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of 



