258 MATUKU ISLAND. 



belonging to them. The circumstance is no doubt due to the 

 fact that the animal is mostly an inhabitant of deep water. 

 The shells of Spinda similarly occur in countless numbers on 

 tropical beaches, yet the animal has only been procured two or 

 three times. We obtained one specimen during our cruise, 

 which had evidently been vomited from the stoaiach of a fish. 



I expect that both Nautibts and Spirilla might be obtained 

 in some numbers, if traps, constructed like lobster-pots and 

 baited, were set in deep water off the coasts where they abound 

 in from 100 to 200 fathoms. Nautilus is occasionally caught 

 both at Fiji and in the New Hebrides, in this manner, in com- 

 paratively shallow water, and the animals were so taken in the 

 time of Rumphius, at the end of the seventeenth century. 

 Traps seem never to have been tried for them in deep water. 



The fact that the living Nautilus was obtained from 320 

 fathoms, shows that it occurs at great depths. It is probably a 

 mistake to suppose that it ever comes to the surface voluntarily 

 to swim about. Most likely it is only washed up by storms, 

 when injured perhaps by the waves. The living specimen 

 obtained by us seemed crippled, and unable to dive, no doubt 

 because it had been brought up so suddenly from the depths. 



The following is a translation of the account given of the 

 habits of the Pearly Nautilus by Rumphius, whose figure of 

 the animal, as seen when taken out of the shell, is probably 

 still the best extant.* " When the living Nautilus floats at the 

 surface of the water, it protrudes its head with all the tentacles 

 out, and spreads these out in the water, keeping the hinder part 

 of the curl of the shell all the while above water. On the 

 bottom, however, the animal creeps with the other side upper- 

 most, with the head and tentacles on the bottom, and makes 

 tolerably fast progress. 



"The animals remain mostly at the bottom, creeping some- 

 times into hoop nets set for fish, and lobster-pots ; but after a 

 storm, when the weather becomes calm, they are to be seen 

 floating in troops on the surface of the water. They are doubt- 

 less raised up by the waves caused by the storms. It follows 

 that they keep themselves together in troops on the bottom 

 also. The floating, however, does not last long, for drawing 

 in all their tentacles, the animals turn their boats over, and go 

 down again to the bottom. 



" On the other hand, the empty shells are frequently to be 

 found floating or cast up on the shore, for the defenceless 

 animal, having no operculum, is a prey to crabs, sharks, and 

 crocodiles ; and therefore the shells are mostly found with the 



* D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer door G. E. Rumphius. Amsterdam. 

 1705 p. 61, TaC. XVII., Fol. 62. 



