in K\ ICKNAI. gHELL. 



detached from the shell by the accident. The vela oi' the A rgo- 

 naul. by clasping and enveloping the shell, had evidently pre- 

 vented the loss of this fragment. It is ol)vious. also, that tin- 

 new deposit of testaceous matter was seereted from the part of 

 the animal within tin shell, and not from the vela, since the 

 edges of the original shell around the fracture appear exclusively 

 Oil the outside. ('. |>. Al>.\Ms. Ani.Jnur. Sri.*'l ser.. vi. \'.\*. 



1848. 



Madame Power has seen the fractured shell of an Argonaut 

 partially repaired by membrane in less than six hours. 



The subjoined notes of an accurate modern nat nralist. alford 

 conclusive evidence of t he non-parasitism of the Argonaut. 



On onr passage home across the South Atlanlic. I enjoyed 

 numerous opportunities of observing the animals of Ar</<nnnifn 

 (ir (in and (/ondola in the living st:ite. specimens having l)een cap- 

 tured by us in large numbers by means of a trawl, as they came 

 to the surface of the water at the decline of day in calm weather, 

 in company with ( 'arinaria, Hyahea. Firola and CMrodora. My 

 observations all tend to |)rove. as might have been expected, the 

 accuracy of Madame 1'ower's observations on the cephalopodie 

 origin of the shell, and the fanciful nature of the statements of 

 Pliny. Poli. and the poets. 



It is quite true that the female Argonaut can readily disengage 

 herself from the shell, when the velamcntous arms In-come col- 

 lapsed, and tloat apparently useless on each side of the animal ; 

 and it is equally certain that she has not the power, or. more 

 properly, the sagacity to re-enter her nest and resume the guar- 

 dianship of her eggs. On the contrary, she herself, if kept in 

 confinement, after dart ing and wounding herself against the >ides 

 of the vessel in which she is confined, soon becomes languid, 

 exhausted, and very short ly dies. Numbers of male Argonauts 

 were taken by us. at the same time, without any shells, and this 

 being the season of ovopo^ition may account for the females, in 

 Mich a number of instances, being found embracing their calca- 

 reous shell-nests, which, so ingeniously formed by the instinct of 

 the mother for the protection of her eg^ from injury, resemble, 

 in some measure. tho<e nidimental capsules secreted by many 

 marine gasteropods for the preservat ion of the immature embryo. 



