182 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Nautilus. 



a point, and united to the end of the mantle ; 

 anterior margin of the mantle free. Horny hoops 

 of the acetabula denticulated. Gladius (a) long 

 and narrow. 



Pennant, under the name of Sopia media, describes 

 this species, which is the common calaniary or Pen- 

 fish (the latter name being derived from the form of 

 its transparent gladius or support), us having an 

 almost transparent botly (which is green but con- 

 vertible into a dirty brown, confirming the remark 

 of Pliny, that they change their colour, adapting it, 

 chameleon-like, to that of the place they are m), 

 and large smaragdine eyes. It is common upon our 

 coasts. 



This species is rapid in its movements, and can 

 take leaps analogous to flights, like the flying-fish ; 

 an allied species indeed has received the specific 

 appellation of Sagitta (arrow) from the rapidity of 

 its sweeping movements. 



Mr. r. D. Bennett, who describes the sea as 

 peculiarly animated between the latitudes 28° and 

 3P N., and the longitudes 1W= and 160° W., ob- 

 serves that the ship was constantly attended by such 

 vast numbers of the albacore, that, when swimming, 

 as is their custom, on the surface of the water, they 

 could be seen as a dense shoal extending several 

 hundred yards on every side of the ship, about 

 which sword fishes (Xiphias) frequently came, 

 " making destructive onslaughts" on the albacore. 

 More rarely he noticed the barracuda, and transient 

 shoals of bonita. " Flying fish and (nearly allied to 

 these in their movements) flying-squid (Loligo) 

 were also numerous. During a calm in lat. SU'^ N., 

 the flying-squid appeared in larger flights than we 

 had ever before witnessed ; persecuted probably by 

 the albacore (which selects this tranquil time to 

 descend deep in the water, and to rove far from the 

 ship in quest of food), they rose from the sea in 

 large flocks, leaping over its smooth surface, much 

 in the same manner, and to the same height and 

 distance as the flying-fish. Many of them were 

 captured by birds during their leaps ; and one indi- 

 vidual in making a desperate effort to escape some 

 aquatic pursuer, sprang to a considerable height 

 above the bulwarks of the ship, and fell with vio^ 

 lence upon the deck." 



One kind of Loligo, captured in the Pacific 

 Ocean, in lat. 34° N., which measured six inches in 

 its entire length, must from the description of its 

 hooks, have been anonychoteuthis. This individual 

 leaped from the sea over the high bulwarks of the 

 ship, and alighted on the deck at a time when vast 

 flocks of the same species were seen leaping around, 

 and often striking with violence against the bows of 

 the vessel, the sea being comparatively smooth. 

 It was much injured by the violence with which it 

 struck the deck. Another species, with its tsvo long 

 tentacles furnished at the extremities with rows of 

 stickers (acetabula) instead of horny hooked appen- 

 dages, resembling the above in size and form, was 

 obtained in the Pacific. The prevailing colours were 

 silver-white and steel-blue, spread with red spots 

 and tints of violet and purple, a brilliant and very 

 beautiful spot of emerald-green being placed imme- 

 diately above each eye. Mr. Bennett concludes by 

 stating that they noticed examples of this family of 

 Cephalopoda from the equator to lats. 34" N. and 

 16° S. in the Pacific Ocean. 



2519. — The Officinal Cuttle-fish 

 {Sepia officinalis). In the genus Sepia the body is 

 oblong, and depressed with two narrow lateral ins 

 extending its whole length ; mantle free at its 

 anterior margin ; sucker supported by horny loops, 

 with the margin entire or very minutely denticulated. 

 The internal suppoit is calcareous, laminated, the 

 laminee supported by columns; it has an internal 

 horny layer, corresponding to the anterior horny 

 sheath in the Belemnites. The ofiicinal cuttle-fish 

 is about a foot in length, and is common in the 

 European seas. Its skin is smooth, whitish, and 

 spotted with brown. The empty eggs of the cuttle- 

 fish in clusters are often thrown upon the beach ; 

 b is the disc of one of the suckers of this species ; 

 c, that of Eledone. 



Fig. 2520, the internal shell of Sepia officinalis : 

 a, the back view ; b, the side view ; c, the under 

 side. 



We may now pass to the testaceous cephalo- 

 pods ; and of these we shall first turn our attention 

 to the Nautilus. 



2521.— The Pearly Nautilus 

 {Nautilus Pompilius). The shell. 



2522. — The Umbilicatkd Nactilus 

 {Nautilus scrobiculatus). The shell.' 



Though known to the ancients and described by 

 Aristotle, it is only recently that the structure of the 

 nautilus has been demonstrated ; it is to Professor 

 Owen, whose labours in the field of science are 

 beyond praise, that we owe our knowledge of the 

 organization of this singular being, which from the 



time of the father of Natural History to the present 

 had remained uninvestigated. That Aristotle was 

 acquainted with the nautilus is very clear : after 

 well describing the naked cephalopods (jiaXama) 

 he says: — "There are also two polypi in shells; 

 one IS called by some nautilus, and by others 

 nautirus. It is like the polypus, but its shell re- 

 sembles a hollow comb or pecten, and is not 

 attached. This polypus ordinarily feeds near the 

 sea-shore ; sometimes it is thrown by the waves on 

 the dry land, and the shell falling from it, is caught, 

 and there dies."' "Tlie other is in a shell like a 

 snail, and this does not go out of its shell, but 

 remains in it like a snail, and sometimes stretches 

 forth its cirrhi (irXmravac )* externally. The 

 first of these animals is evidently the Argonaut, or 

 Paper Nautilus, the latter the true Nautilus. 

 Kumphius, in 1705, gave a figure and description of 

 the Nautilus, but the figure (Fig. 2523), which is 

 intended to represent the animal disengaged from 

 the shell, is indefinite, and its details botti erroneous 

 and confused. Denys" de Montford, in 'Hist. 

 Nat. des Moll.' (suite au Buffon de Sonnini, Paris, 

 1802), gives a pretended and most absurd figure of 

 the nautilus, which has been copied by Shaw, and 

 which is below notice (see Fig. 2.524). 



The specimen which was dissected by Pro- 

 fessor Owen was a female, and was captured by 

 G. Bennett, Esq. F.L.S., who thus describes the 

 occurrence. "It was on the 24th of August, 1829, 

 (calm and fine weather, thermometer at noon 79"), 

 in the evening, when the ship Sophia was lying at 

 anchor in Marakini Bay, on the south-west side of 

 the island of Erromanga, one of the New Hebrides 

 group. Southern Pacific Ocean, that something was 

 seen floating on the surface of the water at some 

 distance from the ship ; to many it appeared like 

 a small dead tortoiseshell cat, which would have 

 been such an unusual object to be seen in this part 

 of the world, that the boat which was alongside the 

 ship at the time was sent for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining the nature of the floating object. On ap- 

 proaching near it was observed to be the shell-fish 

 commonly known by the name of the Pearly 

 Nautilus "(Nautilus Pompilius) ; it was captured and 

 brought on board, but the shell was shattered, from 

 having been struck by the boat-hook in capturing 

 it, as the animal was sinking when the boat ap- 

 proached, and had it not been so damaged it 

 would have escaped. I extracted the fish in a 

 perfect state, which was firmly attached to each 

 side of the upper cavity of the shell. On being 

 brought on board, I observed it retract the tenta- 

 cula still closer than before, and this was the only 

 sensation of vitality it gave after being caught ; I 

 preserved the soft parts immediately in spirits, after 

 making a rude pen-and-ink sketch of its form. On 

 breaking the lower part of the shell, the chambers 

 or cavities were found tilled with water. The hood 

 has been stated by Dr. Shaw (Lectures, vol. ii. p. 

 165) as being of a'pale reddish purple colour, with 

 deeper spots and variegations ; the colour however, 

 as it appeared in this recent specimen, was of a 

 dark reddish brown, in fact resembling the colour 

 produced by the Koka on the stained cloth of the 

 Tongatabu natives, intermingled with white. We 

 had fine weather; light winds and calms a day or 

 two previous to this animal being caught." After 

 noticing the incorrectness of Shaw's figure (which, 

 as we have above observed, was copied from those 

 given by Denys de Montford), and the greater 

 general accuracy of that of Rumphius, Mr. Bennett 

 informs us that this species is called Kika, Lapia, 

 and Krang Modang by the natives of Amboyna; and 

 Bia papeda, Bia cojin by the Malays. He then 

 adverts to another instance of the capture of this 

 animal, by an officer of H.M.S. Ariadne, on a 

 reef at the Island of Pemba, near Zanzibar, on the 

 east coast of Africa, in 1824. The animal was not 

 floating npon the water, but was in a hole on the 

 reef, and the officer did not recollect which part of 

 the shell was uppermost. The mantle, like a thin 

 membrane, covered the shell, and was drawn in as 

 soon as it was touched, when the shell was displayed. 

 " I aiid others," said this officer to Mr. Bennett, 

 " when it was first seen did not notice it, regarding 

 Ihe animal, as the membrane enveloped the shell, 

 merely as a piece of blubber; but having touched it 

 by accident, the membranous covering was with- 

 drawn, and we soon secured our beautiful prize. 

 The fish was a large mass attached to the shell, 

 which we soon extracted and threw away, as we 

 only wanted to collect shells." The same officer 

 compared the mantle to what he had subsequently 

 seen covering the shells of the Harps (Entomo- 

 stomata), and cowries (Cyprseidse). Mr. Bennett 

 states that a section of the shell captured by him 

 was afterwards made on board, but none of the ap- 

 pearances, nor whether air or water was contained 

 within, could be recollected. A mate of a whaler, 



• TlXtKTainj. undosus ilammnrum vertex — the HnduUting point 

 of a flame, which the aims or the nautilus much zcaemble when taken 

 collectively. 



who had been shipwrecked upon the Feejee Islands 

 in the South Pacific, and had resided among that 

 group for nearly three years, told Mr. Bennett that 

 he had seen the shell of the Peariy Nautilus, con- 

 taining the living animal, floating on the water near 

 one of the islands. He had only seen two living, 

 although the empty shells were very numerous 

 among the islands. The first he saw when in a 

 canoe with some other shipwrecked Europeans ; it 

 was then floating on the surface of the water with 

 the mouth of the shell uppermost. It was enveloped 

 in the mantle, which extended some distance up- 

 wards and over the whole of the shell ; and it had 

 such an appearance as to cause one of the men to 

 say, " There is a large piece of blubber upon the 

 water." On approaching it the animal, retracting 

 the mantle, displayed the beautiful striped shell, 

 and sank before they could capture it. (G. Bennett, 

 Wanderings, vol. ii.) 



With respect to the general form of this animal, 

 a reference to Fig. 2525 will convey a better idea 

 than words ; a section of the shell in outline is given, 

 showing the siphon, t i; the chambers of the 

 camerated shell, x x; the septal tubes, which give 

 passage to the membranous siphon : and the cham- 

 ber of occupation, z. We may here observe that 

 from a series of twenty processes or digitations on 

 each side of the heatl, arise the true tentacula or 

 arms, which _ are round, tapering and annulated , 

 indeed each of the processes is hollow, and con- 

 stitutes a sheath, into which the arm attached to it 

 may be completely withdrawn. Besides these there 

 are labial processes, and laminated appendages at 

 the entrance of the mouth abundantly supplied with 

 nerves. There are no organs of hearing. 



Fig. 2526 represents the nautilus and part of the 

 shell in outline, explanatory of its structure. 



a a, the mantle ; b, its dorsal fold applied to the 

 involute convexity of the shell ; c, its free anterior 

 margin ; d, the orifice for the passage of the funnel ; 

 e, the convexity produced by the ovarian gland ; 

 //, the horny girdle for the adhesion of the mantle 

 to the shell ; g, the horny laminae covering the ex- 

 tremity of the lelt shell muscle ; h, a portion of the 

 shell, which was left adhering to this muscle; i, the 

 membranous tube or siphon, which traverses the 

 testaceous tubes in the camerated portion of the 

 shell ; k, the funnel ; /, the left lateral process of 

 the funnel ; m, the left crus, or pillar of the funnel ; 

 71, the hood, or ligamento-muscular disc that sur- 

 mounts the head; o o, the exterior digitations on 

 the left side ; o', the larger one, with a papillose 

 surface like that of the hood ; p, the digitated 

 tentacles, protruded from their sheaths ; q, the 

 groove which separates the hood from the papillose 

 digitation; r r, the ophthalmic receptacles; s, the 

 eye ; t, its peduncle ; u, the inferior ridge or rudi- 

 mentary eyelid ; v, the ridge running from this to 

 tc, the pupil; xxx, the partitions of the chambers; 

 yyy, the septal tubes, which give passage to the 

 membranous siphon ; z, the chamber of occupation. 

 (Owen.) 



Fig. 2527 represents the nautilus removed from 

 its shell, in a prone position, with the labial processes 

 and tentacles, the mandibles and the digestive 

 organs displayed. 



a a, the hood, or upper part of the oval sheath 

 longitudinally divided ; b b, the posterior lobes or 

 angles of the hood ; c c, the posterior concavity of 

 the hood; dd,\\\e ridge in the same; e e, the cut 

 surfaces of the above parts ; ff, the internal surface 

 of the oval sheath ; y g, the external labial pro- 

 cesses ; h /i, the external labial tentacles ; i i, the 

 internal labial processes ; k k, the internal labial 

 tentacles; /, the olfactory laminae ; »i m. the circular 

 fringed lip, longitudinally divided ; n, the superior 

 mandible ; o, the inferior mandible ; p, the muscular 

 basis on which the mandibles are fixed ; g q, tlie 

 superior pair of muscles which retract the jaws ; r r, 

 the semicircular muscle which protrudes the jaws, 

 divided longitudinally ; s, the oesophagus ; t, the 

 crop ; «, the narrow canal leading to v, the gizzard ; 

 w, the intestine ; w', the terminal fold of intestine 

 drawn out of its situation ; x, the ejective orifice ; 

 y, the laminated pancreatic bag; z, the liver; 15, 

 a branch of the anterior aorta, which ramifies in 

 the membrane connecting the two portions of the 

 terminal fold of the intestine ; 19, the continuation 

 of the posterior aorta along the dorsal aspect of the 

 crop ; 20, its bifurcation at the oesophagus, to form 

 a vascular circle corresponding to the nervous 

 circle round that tube ; 21 and 22, arteries of the 

 crop, gizzard, &c. (Owen.) 



The extent to which the nautilus is covered by 

 its shell, and its close attachment to it. caused 

 Aristotle to compare it to a snail ; and, says Professor 

 Owen, "the general resemblance must be .suffi- 

 ciently striking when, with his house above him and 

 in the supine position, he makes his way along 

 the sand h ith a moderate degree of rapidity." This 

 indeed seems to be the animal's habitual mode of 

 progression ; yet it not unfrequently rises to the 

 surface and floats, but the navigation is " in all pro- 



