MOLLUSCA. 293 



suckers on a level with the margin. Most of the exam- 

 ples we obtained were resting upon clusters of eggs, 

 loosely deposited at the bottom of their shell. Each 

 egg is round, colourless, and about the size of a millet 

 seed. 



I noticed that some of the animals had escaped from 

 their shells while the net in which they were taken was 

 towing through the sea, and also that there were some- 

 times more empty shells than corresponded with the 

 number of uncovered Argonauts. Those that remained 

 in their shells would not easily quit them ; but, when 

 handled, retracted their body and resisted any mode- 

 rate force that was employed to withdraw them. When 

 put into a pan of sea-water, their first action was to 

 eject clouds of black fluid, which were diffused but 

 slowly through the water. These were cast with great 

 force and rapidity from near the arms, and when the 

 inky fluid was exhausted, its place was supplied by what 

 appeared to be forcible currents of water. They some- 

 times moved in a sliding manner, and in a retrograde 

 direction, as they rested on the side or convex back of 

 their shell ; and sometimes adhered to the sides of the 

 pan by their suckers, and advanced by walking, bearing 

 their shell on their back, like a snail. None of them, 

 while thus circumstanced, made the slightest attempt 

 to quit their shell. The remarkable number of empty 

 shells of Hyal&a tridentata which I found adhering to 

 the suckers on the arms of these Argonauts, led me to 

 suspect that the animals they had contained were de- 

 voured by the cephalopod. 



Modern naturalists have been anxious to ascertain 

 if the Ocythoe is a parasite, or whether it has the 

 power necessary to construct the shell it occupies. 

 That the cephalopod is well adapted in size to the 

 dwelling it inhabits is by no means an argument against 



