THE ARGONAUT.— THE NAUTILUS. 85 



straight,' while the two winglike membranes, 

 that we loved to thiak were silvery sails, are 

 now supposed to be the secreting organs used 

 in fabricating the boat of pearl. These wise 

 observers have found, too, that it is only the 

 female argonaut who rides like a princess, the 

 males being diminutive and possessed of no 

 insignia of royalty. 



"The little princess sits serenely in her 

 shell, but is in no way attached to it, and might 

 unharmed be lifted out and placed in another. 



"The shell, besides serving as her boat, is 

 the pearly cradle or little ark in which the 

 infant Argonauta are borne in safety through 

 the floods. The eggs are fastened to filamen- 

 tary stalks and by these to the involuted spire 

 of the shell, and are usually concealed by the 

 body of the mother. 



"This shell of the argonaut as you see," 

 said the doctor, reverting to the shell which 

 Undine still held in her hand, "is thin and 

 brittle as glass ; hence while thousands sail the 

 seas but few are found upon the shores. 



" On the contrary, the shell of the nautilus 

 is thick and strong, and found upon many 

 tropic shores. The pearly nautilus is the one 

 with which we are best acquainted, and seems 

 to be the most abundant. This shell is some- 



