JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 79 



iferous forests were converted into mineral coal, used in fires and 

 furnaces to-day. Huxley's description of the shell itself conveys in 

 a few words an excellent picture : " Shell elongated, conical, curved 

 like an elephant's tusk, apex broken off, open at both ends." 



\ 



CEPHALOPODA. 



At the head of the MoUusca (last but not least) we may well 

 place the Argoniiida' and Nautilus. Provided with eyes to see, 

 arms to grasp, a parrot-like beak to tear and devour creatures even 

 of a higher classification. There was an age in the far-off history of 

 the globe when these,*the fossilized forms, were apparently installed 

 as " the lords of creation," and swarmed in every sea. In what was 

 known to us as " the mineral quarry," on the Barton and Glanford 

 road, now abandoned, I have frequently noticed groups of Cephalo- 

 pods lying flattened across each other as if the shells had been 

 subjected to great pressure. In "The Chain of Life," by Sir W. 

 Dawson, you will find the representation of a Silurian Cephalopod, 

 which resembles, except in the air chambers (septa), a specimen 

 seen in Mr. Webber's quarry, near Hamilton, some years since. 



There are only five species of the Nautilus living at the present 

 time. Upwards of 600 existed formerly. It is difficult to under- 

 stand what led the old world Naturalists to form such erroneous 

 ideas regarding the habits of the Nautilus. Aristotle is credited, I 

 believe, as the first who asserted " that it rises from the deep ; 

 spreads its arms and sails ; and goes cruising on the surface, pro- 

 pelled by its tentacles, before the wind." Many centuries have 

 passed since then, but in modern universities and colleges on the 

 American continent, in Canada or the United States, I am told you 

 may find not a few slill inclined to accept the antiquated views of 

 Naturalists of the olden time. The most reliable statement regard- 

 ing the Nautilus was made by an old Dutch Naturalist, Rumplyus, 

 in a work published in 1705 on the Natural History of Amboyna, 

 and the following extract met the approval of the late Sir R. Owen : 

 "When the Nautilus floats on the water, he puts out his head and 

 his tentacles and spreads them upon the water, with the poop of 

 the shell above water; at the bottom he creeps in the reverse posi- 

 tion, his boat above him, head and tentacles on the ground." 



Note.— During the different stages of growth the outer margin 



