200 ARTHUR WILLEY. 



emphasised by the different modes adopted by the natives for 

 trapping these animals. 



One of the surest ways of obtaining Nautilus, and, in fact, 

 the method by which I have obtained most of my specimens 

 at Lifu, is to bait the fish-basket with the cooked and bruised 

 exoskeleton of Palinurus or an allied form. The strongly 

 scented "potage" so produced is then wrapped up in cocoa-nut 

 fibre like a small parcel, and placed in the fish-trap overnight. 

 There is therefore nothing to be seen, but on the other hand 

 there is something to be smelt, and by this means I have 

 obtained as many as ten Nautilus at one time. 



For taking Octopus the natives of Lifu employ a very dif- 

 ferent method. A rounded oval piece of stone backed by a 

 well-fitting piece of the shell of a species of Cyprsea, to which 

 are added pieces of leaf to simulate legs and tail, is dangled 

 along the surface of the water at the end of a line. The 

 natives say that the Octopus mistakes this for a rat, against 

 which it has a special grudge ; but whatever the reason may 

 be, the fact remains that Octopus attacks this singular non- 

 scented contrivance, and so is captured. 



The Osphradia of Nautilus. 



In an article published in ' Natural Science^ for June, 1895 

 (vol. vi, pp. 405 — 414), I suggested that the post-anal papilla 

 represented a pair of osphradia — namely, the inner osphradia, 

 in addition to the outer osphradia which were originally de- 

 scribed by Lankester and Bourne. The nerve to the outer 

 osphradium on each side is bound up together with the nerves 

 to the branchiae into a common trunk, the respective nerves 

 separating out from the trunk towards the base of the branchiae. 

 The nerve supplying the inner osphradium has a generally in- 

 dependent course close beside the above-mentioned common 

 nerve-trunk. I cannot believe that this slight difference in 

 the behaviour of the osphradial nerves constitutes an obstacle 



