NAUTILUS SAILOR. 135 



on.tne surface of the sea, it is often found re- 

 versed, and like a snail bearing its house upon 

 its back. The name is derived from the Greek 

 word vaunAos (nautilos) a sailor. 



The animals inhabiting the shells of this and 

 the following genus vary considerably from the 

 other Mollusca ; they are called Cephalopodes,* 

 (footed at the head,) because their heads are 

 surrounded by arms or teritacula. Their bodies 

 are fleshy, like the other Mollusca, and the 

 posterior portion is contained in the mantle of 

 the animal. Their mouth is vertical and armed 

 with two corneous mandibles resembling the 

 beak of a parrot, They live in the sea, are 

 carnivorous, and feed on crabs and other marine 

 animals. The position of their arms enables 

 them to seize their prey, and bring it to their 

 mouth. The Cephalopodes which form a mul- 

 tilocular shell, instead of being enclosed within 

 their shell, envelop it so as only to leave a small 

 portion visible : a tendinous thread issuing from 

 the extremity of the body appears to attach it to 

 the shell, and probably has some connexion with 

 the siphunculus. 



As in the genus Serpula we observed how 

 extensive a work of destruction is carried on by 

 a little worm, here we have to notice the reverse 

 of that fact. A very small species of the Mul- 

 tilocular Cephalopodes, called Miliola, (being 

 about the size of a grain of millet,) exhibits the 

 power of reproduction in an equally astonishing 



* Cephalopodea. Having feet on the head, from the Greek 

 ephale) a head, and *o<Js (podes) feet. 



