X. 



THE AEGONAUT.— THE NAUTILUS. 



The day following, Dr. McLean broiiglit 

 Undine a large translucent shell ; so thin and 

 shining was it as to suggest the possibility of 

 its vanishing in air like a bubble. 



"Yesterday," he said, placing the shell in 

 her hand, " your cousin told us how a people 

 learned to make lace from a piece of seaweed. 

 I will tell you how the Argonauta taught men 

 navigation. 



" The argonaut and nautilus, although both 

 belonging to the cephalopods — the highest di- 

 vision of the mollusks — are in most points quite 

 unlike; yet in consequence of a similarity in 

 the form of their shells their names have often 

 been indiscriminately used. The little voyager 

 with the silken sail is the Argonauta Argo, . 

 quite generally known as paper nautilus. 



" Many and charming are the stories told of 



this little sailor who, in his fairy bark with 



- satin sail, was wafted o'er the 'unshadowed 



83 



