THE PEARLY NAUTILUS. 



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more simple structure. The handsome pearl-mother and spirally 

 wound shell is divided by transverse partitions (a), perforated in 

 the centre, into numerous chambers (b). The animal takes up 

 its abode in the foremost and largest (&'), but sends a commu- 

 nicating tube or siphon (c) through all the holes of the partitions 

 to the very extremity of the spirally wound shell. Though the 

 empty conch was frequently found swimming on the waters of 

 the Indian Ocean, or cast ashore on the Moluccas or New 

 Guinea, yet it was only in 1829 that the animal was known with 



Pearly Nautilus. 



any certainty, one having been caught alive by Mr. George 

 Bennett, near the New Hebrides, which, preserved in spirits, is 

 now in the museum of the College of Surgeons. Since then 

 three different species have been found to abound in the waters 

 of the above-named archipelago, of New Caledonia, and of the 

 Feejee and Solomon Islands, where they principally sojourn 

 among the coral reefs at depths of from three to six fathoms. 

 They usually remain at the bottom of the water, where they 

 creep along rather quickly, supporting themselves upon their 



