NAUTILUS POMPILIUS. 



565 



sions with those of the possessor. The apparent want of resemblance 

 between the outward form of the animal (fig. 285) and that of its 

 fragile covering, together with the absence of any muscular connexion 

 between the two, were looked upon as furnishing sufficient evidence of 

 its parasitical habits. The careful observations of Madame Jeannette 

 Power, to be noticed more at length hereafter, and those of M. Sander 

 Eang, above alluded to, have, however, completely settled the so long 

 agitated question; and, the Argonaut having been watched carefully 

 from the state in which it leaves the egg until it arrives at maturity, 

 the manner in which it forms and repairs its frail shell is now satisfac- 

 torily understood. 



(1517.) A still more interesting group of CEPHALOPODS, and one which 

 in former periods of the world has been extensively disseminated, in- 

 habited chambered shells. But of all the varied forms of these crea- 

 tures, whose remains are so abundantly met with in a fossil state, and 

 known by the names of Ammonites, Belemnites, Nummulites, &c., two 



Fig. 284. 



Animal of the Nautilus Pompilius. (After Owen.) 



species only have been found to be at present in existence: the Spirula, 

 an animal as yet imperfectly known, and the Nautilus Pompilius, of 

 which the only specimen obtained in modern times* has been the 



* For this invaluable addition to zoological knowledge, science is indebted to 

 George Bennett, Esq., who obtained the living animal near the island of Erromanga, 

 New Hebrides. " It was found in Marekini Bay, floating on the surface of the water 



