396 Report of a Notice respecting 



1st, That the shell of the Ocythoe does not exist in the egg, 

 and even not for some days after its birth ; a fact confirmed 

 by M. Maravigno, and which destroys the strongest argument 

 brought against the opinion of the parasitic nature of the 

 animal in the shell, and which had been drawn more par- 

 ticularly from Poli's observations. 



And, as new facts against this same opinion, — 



2dly, That pieces of the shell, previously taken away, are re- 

 produced; a fact affirmed also by M. Maravigno, but without 

 any details as to the place from which the pieces had been 

 taken, or the time of reproduction, or the comparative struc- 

 ture of the portions thus reproduced. 



3dly, The shell is not formed within the egg, conse- 

 quently, after the birth of the animal ; an assertion equally 

 unsupported by details, though contradicting all that we at 

 present know with respect to the developement of conchylife- 

 rous Mollusca, on which account alone it ought to have been 

 accompanied by circumstantial detail. 



At the same time, and in the same seas, where Mrs. Power 

 made her observations, Mr. Smith made some which have 

 conducted him to an opposite conclusion. In a note read 

 at the scientific meeting of the London Zoological Society, 

 on the 8th of September, 1835, upon the question of the 

 parasitic nature of the Octopod of the Argonaut, Mr. Smith 

 considers that this parasitic character was sufficiently evident ; 

 because, in the market at Naples, where this animal is very 

 abundant, the shell is seldom found ; whilst the mollusc, 

 which serves as food to the inhabitants, is extremely common 

 and very cheap there.* But may not Mr. Smith have con- 

 founded other species of Octopods with the true Ocythoe, or 

 Cephalopod with palmated arms? a circumstance which does 

 not seem to us improbable, notwithstanding that M.Rafinesque 

 has some time since described these remarkable Mollusca in 

 the seas of Sicily, without speaking of any shell. 



Although Mr. E. Gray has not had such favourable op- 

 portunities as some of his countrymen for advancing the 



* " A note by Mr. William Smith, relative to the animal of the Argonauta 

 Argo Linn., and forwarded through Mr. Gray, was read. The most im- 

 portant statement adduced in it, with reference to the question of the pa- 

 rasitic nature of the Cephalopod so frequently found in the shell, is thus 

 expressed : ' It seems pretty evident that the animal found in the Argonauta 

 is a parasite, because, in the Bay of Naples, where it is very abundant, the 

 shell is but rarely found ; whereas the Octopus itself is constantly to be 

 met with, and, indeed, is daily to be seen in the common market as an 

 article of food. To give some idea of its comparative scarcity in union with 

 the shell, I shall merely mention that the usual price of the animal alone 

 is about fourpence ; while a specimen inhabiting the shell cannot be obtained 

 under five shillings.' " (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 

 1835, p. 125.) — Ed. 



