14 



THE SHELL-FISH OF THE COAST. 



delicate coiled shell, looking somewhat like that 

 of an ordinary snail, but differing in that the coil 

 is open, and that it is distinctly chambered, besides 

 having a pearly lining. This is the shell 

 of another member of the cuttle-fish 

 group, known to fame as the Spirula. 

 Myriads of these shells are sometimes 

 found about favored coast lines, but, sin- 

 gular though it may appear, the sight of 

 the living animal is one of nature's rari- 

 ties. The record of observed specimens 

 thus far indicates less than a dozen individuals. Ac- 

 cordingly, we know but little of the habits of the 

 animal inhabiting the shell, and equally little of its 



distribution. This holds 

 also true of the ' Pearly 

 Nautilus,' a not very dis- 

 tant ally of the Spirula, 

 whose beautiful shells are 

 oflfered for sale at nearly 

 all the marts along the 

 searshore, and are even 

 thought by many to have 

 been gathered in the vi- 

 cinity. But the home of 

 the Nautilus is a distant 

 one, and its cradle not 

 improbably the deep-sea. 

 Chance has on more than one occasion brought 

 to our shores a rare specimen in the shell of the 

 ' Paper Nautilus,' or Argonaut, that singular crea- 

 ture whose Ulyssean journeys were supposed to 



Shell op Peaely Nautilus. 



