144 Descriptive Zoology. 



Many weird tales are told of the octopus, most of which have little or no 

 foundation. In fact, there is no satisfactory evidence that an octopus 

 ever intentionally attacked a human being. In countries adjacent to 

 the Mediterranean the octopus is largely used as food. 



The Nautilus. The nautilus is closely related to the squids and 

 cuttlefishes, but has the body inclosed in a flat-spiral shell. From 

 time to time the animal moves forward and partitions off the space in 

 the shell which it formerly occupied, the live animal occupying only the 



FIG. 96. CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. 



Showing chambers with soft body in outer chamber. 



From Packard's Zoology. 



outermost space in the shell. It retains its hold on the smallest and 

 oldest portion of the shell, however, by means of a slender fleshy cord 

 which passes through a series of holes left in the partitions. The inner, 

 abandoned spaces are filled with gas. From this fact of growth the 

 animal is commonly called the chambered nautilus, though it is also 

 called the pearly nautilus, from the pearly lining. It lives in the 

 South Seas. 



Fossil Chambered Shells. While the nautilus is almost the only 

 living form of this peculiar plan of growth, there are many fossil cham- 

 bered shells. Two of the most noteworthy of these are the Ammon- 



