their minds to believe that the animal found in this shell was any 

 other than a parasite — a naked Octopod which took up its dwelling 

 in this particular kind of shell, of which the maker and owner had 

 escaped detection. This hypothesis was destroyed by Professor 

 Owen many years ago, who brought before the Zoological Society of 

 London the admirable observations of a lady, Madame Jeannette 

 Power, who made a continuous study of these animals in her vivarium 

 at Messina. The result of these observations showed that the eggs 

 are deposited in the discoid portion of the shell. The ova form 

 a large granulated mass attached to a many branched stem ; they 

 are contained in the spire of the shell in contact with the posterior 

 part of the body of the mother, but sometimes project externally 

 beyond the coil of the spire. In about twenty-five days after ovi- 

 position the young argonaut comes out of the egg a naked octopus, 

 and in about twelve days more the two front arms of the female be- 

 come dilated at the extremities into a pair of membranous webs and 

 commence forming a thin, filmy shell. There are about eight species 

 of Argonmita inhabiting the open sea througliout the warmer parts 

 of the world, notably the Mediterranean, Red Sea, the Cape, the 

 Morocco Coast, etc. 



In concluding these very brief notes on this interesting and beauti- 

 ful little animal, we cannot but be filled with wonder at the 

 marvellously effective way in which the young are protected until 

 they are able to take care of themselves, but why this is the only 

 creature among the Cephalopods that makes this provision, who can 

 say ? The eggs of the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) are fixed 

 around a stalk, to which every egg is separately attached ; the mother 

 watches and guards the egg-clusters for some days. When the young 

 emerge from the capsules, the spawn of the common squid {Loligo 

 vulgaris) is left floating on the surface of the sea. The well-known 

 eggs of the cuttle-fish {Sepia officinalis), resembling black, pointed 

 grapes, are generally attached to the stems of sea-weed. In none of 

 these species is there any protection to the eggs in the nature of a 

 shell ; this is reserved exclusively to those of the Argotiauta. 



