58 INTRODUCTION TO CONCHOLOGY. 



lower part of the mantle ; and the siphon, instead of passing 

 through the centre of the chamber, is on the inner side. 

 Strange it seems that the shell should be found in such 

 abundance without its occupant, — a fact confirmed by Dr. 

 Hooker, the enterprising botanist of the Antarctic expedition, 

 who relates that he saw thousands of the Spirule shell scat- 

 tered on the shore at Paroah bay, New Zealand. M. Menke 

 also describes them as frequent on the coast of New Holland. 

 The shell is not dependent on the attachment of a muscle, 

 like the Nautilus, nor on the prehensile embrace of a pair 

 of arms, as in the Argonaut ; and hence the soft parts must 

 apparently decompose before the shell can be released. 



Cicero refers to the ocean and its inhabitants as affording 

 irrefragable proofs, in connection with the general order of 

 creation, of the existence of a presiding Deity. '' How 

 beautiful,'^ says this enhghtened heathen, "is majestic 

 Ocean ! How delightful to contemplate its vast expanse of 

 waters, varied with islands and continents ! How innumer- 

 able and diversified the multitudes of living creatures which 

 it contains ; some dwelling in its deep recesses, others 

 sporting on the waves, others, again, adhering to the rocks ! 

 Who can observe the beauty of the universe, the order of 

 the celestial bodies, the rising of the sun and moon, and 



