258 THE HISTORY OF AKIMALS. | B. IX. 



come so weak, that they are devoured by small fish, aud 

 are easily dragged out of their holes, though before they 

 would have permitted nothing of the kind. They also say 

 that the small and young ones will not endure this, and that 

 they are stronger than the large ones. The sepia also only 

 lives one year ; the polypus is the only one of the malacia 

 that ever ventures upon dry land, it advances upon a rough 

 surface, but avoids smooth places. In other respects, it is 

 a strong animal, but its ueck, if pressed, becomes very weak. 

 12. This is the nature of the malacia. They say that 

 .... form their rough shells round themselves like a hard 

 breastplate, which increases as they grow, and that they 

 can leave these, as if they were a hole or a habitation. 

 The nautilus is a polypus peculiar both in its nature and ita 

 actions ; for it sails upon the surface of the sea, rising 

 up from the depths of the waters. It is brought to the 

 surface with its shell inverted, in order that it may go out 

 more easily and navigate in an empty shell. When it 

 reaches the surface, it turns its shell over. There is a 

 membrane extended between two of its tentacula similar 

 to the web feet of birds, except that theirs is thick and that 

 of the nautilus thin and like a spider s web. This it uses 

 for a sail when the wind blows, and it extends two of its 

 tentacula for rudders. If alarmed, it fills its shell and sinkp 

 in the sea. No one has made any accurate observation on the 

 production and growth of the shell. It appears not to ori 

 ginate in sexual intercourse, but to be produced like that of 

 other conchylia, nor is it clear whether it can live when 

 taken out of its shell. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



1. THE most laborious of all insects, if compared with the 

 rest, are the tribes of ants and bees, with the hornets, wasps, 

 aud their other congeners. Some of the spiders are more 

 neat, graceful, and skilful than others in their mode of life. 

 Every one may see the diligence of the ant ; for it is on the 

 surface, and that they always travel in one direction, and 

 make a store and treasure-house of food, for they work even 

 in the night when there is a full moon. 



2. There are many kinds of spiders and phalangia. Of 

 the phalangia that bite there are two sorts. The one re- 



