130 ARGONAUT A. 



A living Argonaut was capt nred ;it Long IJranch. New Jersey, 

 liy a fisherman, in August. 187. It \v:is kept alive tor eight or 

 nine days ;uid made feeble attempts to swim in its narrow con- 

 finement. Am. Nat., xi. *1\'.\. 



The occurrence of tlie Argonaut on the Florida coast, in one 

 instance with the animal entire, is mentioned in Ami. Nat., xii. HUT. 

 The writer of the notice goes on to say that "in the Indian 

 Ocean he has seen it in calm weather sailing on the surface, as 

 described by old writers, but discredited by closet naturalists of 

 thoe days/ 1 What became of the shell, when the vela were 

 used as sails ? 



A beautiful specimen of Argonauta compressa, Blainville. in 

 the cabinet of the Boston Society of Nat. Hist., is the largest 

 known Argonaut shell. Its diameter is 10 inches.* It cost its 

 donor, Col. Thos. H. Perkins. *:>()()._ Bost. Soc. Proc., v, 370. 



Dr. H. Miiller observes that the female Argonaut appears 

 periodically in great numbers at Messina during the spawning 

 season, but at other times her usual habitat is at the bottom in 

 deep waters. The male is always very small, not exceeding an 

 inch in length and is rarely met with: its hectocotyli/ed arm is 

 detached during coition and is found in the mantle of the female, 

 where it enjoys a prolonged separate life, although unprovided 

 with digestive organs. The young female an inch in length, has 

 no shell ; it is developed later. 



In South Australia, at certain seasons of the year, during the 

 prevalence of strong northerly winds, the shells of the female 

 Argonaut are washed ashore in considerable numbers. Many of 

 these shells contain the animal in a living state; but they soon 

 fall a prey to the sea-gulls by whom they are greedily devoured. f 



1. Group of A. Mans. 

 A. IFIANS. Solander. PI. 4C, tigs. 100-102. 



Animal small; headlong; ventral aperture large ; aquiferous 

 openings two; arms short, unequal, order of length 1. -2. :i. 4 ; 

 the webbed arms small, thick. 



* In same Proceedings, v, tt5. Dr. (Jould states the measurements of 

 tliis specimen to be 11% by 1% inches. 



\ Angas, On the molluscan fauna of South Australia, Proo. Zool. Soc., 

 156, 1865. 



