CEPHALOPODS. 467 



forward ; its mantle is then of a pearly grey, and the spots take the 

 tint of wine lees. When at rest the shades disappear. 



The Pinnoctopus (Fig. 325), another genera of this family, have 

 the body oblong, with lateral expansions, as represented in the ac- 

 companying figure. 



In Cirrotlieutis the arms are completely united in their whole ex- 

 tent by a thin membrane furnished with cirri, which alternate with 

 certain suckers arranged in one row. Only one species of this genera 

 is known as an inhabitant of northern seas, which is represented in 

 Fig. 326. 



The sixth family, Argonautidte, contains only Argonauta. 

 The Argonauta, or Paper-nautilus. Floating gracefully on the 

 surface of the sea, trimming its tiny sail to the breeze, just sufficient to 

 ruffle the surface of the waves, behold the exquisite living shallop. The 

 elegant little bark which thus plays with the current is no work of 

 human hands, but a child of Nature : it is the Argonaut, whose tribes, 

 decked in a thousand brilliant shades of colour, are wanderers of the 

 night in innumerable swarms on the ocean's surface. 



The marine shell which Linnaeus called the Argonaut enjoyed great 

 renown among the ancient Greeks and Komans. It was the subject 

 of graceful legends ; it had inspired great poets ; it occupied the 

 attention of Aristotle, who called it the Nautilus and Nauticos, and 

 of Pliny, who called it Pompylius. Few animals, indeed, have been 

 so celebrated, so anciently known. The Greek and Koman poets 

 saw in it an elegant model of the ship which the skill and audacity of 

 the man constructed who first braved the fury of the waves ; in the 

 words of the poet, " armour of triple oak and triple brass covered 

 the heart of him who first confided himself in a frail bark to the 

 relentless waves :" 



" UK robur et aes triplex 



Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem tnici 

 Commisit pelago ratem 



Primus " 



Horace, I. Car. iii. 1. 9. 



To meet the Pompylius was, according to the superstitious Eoman, 

 a favourable presage. This little oceanic wanderer, in spite of the 

 capricious waves, was a tutelar divinity, who guarded the navigator 

 in his course, and assured him of a happy passage. Listen to -the 



2 H 2 



