masses below, to discover the animal in 

 its favorite haunts. The experienced eye 

 of the native may probably encounter it 

 in its usual position, clinging to some 

 prominent ledge, with the shell turned 

 downwards. The tackle consists first, of 

 a large, round, wicker-work basket, 

 shaped very much like a cage rat-trap, 

 having an opening above, with a circlet of 

 points directed inward, so as to permit of 

 entry but to preclude escape ; secondly, a 

 rough piece of rope of sufficient length to 

 reach the bottom; and lastly, a small 

 piece of branched wood, with the 

 branches sharpened to form a sort of 

 grapnel, to which a perforated stone is at- 

 tached, answering the purpose of a sink- 

 er. The basket is now weighted with 

 stones, well baited with boiled cray-fish 

 (the principal food of the Nautilus is 

 crabs of different species), and then 

 dropped gently down near the victim. 

 The trap is now either closely watched or 

 a mark is placed upon the spot, and the 

 fisherman pursues his avocation upon 

 other parts of the reef until a certain 

 period has elapsed, when he returns and 

 in all probability finds the Nautilus in his 

 cage, feeding upon the bait. The grap- 

 nel is now carefully let down, and having 

 entered the basket through the opening 

 on top, a dextrous movement of the hand 

 fixes one or more of the points or hooks 

 and the prize is safely hoisted into the 

 canoe." 



The animal is made into soup by some 

 of the natives while others boil it in a pot. 

 The shells are used by the natives to 

 make beautifully carved figures, the con- 

 trast of the dark outer coating against the 

 light, pearly, inner coating producing a 

 striking effect. The shell is also used in 

 England and on the Continent to produce 

 elegant cameos. 



The Argonaut," or ''Paper Sailor," is 

 no less beautiful and interesting than the 

 Pearly Nautilus. The thin and fragile 

 shell cannot be compared with that of the 

 Nautilus nor with the pen, or internal 

 support, of the squid, for it is attached to 

 the animal by no muscles, and is only kept 

 in position by the broad webs on the up- 

 per arms of the female (which alone pos- 

 sesses a shell), its function being simply 

 to protect the eggs. The male is very 

 much smaller than the female and is ex- 



ceedingly rare. The natural position of 

 the female is with its arms spread out and 

 hanging about the shell, four in front and 

 four behind, the two broad arms support- 

 ing the shell being spread out and closely 

 embracing the latter. The siphon is 

 turned toward the ridged part of the shell 

 and the animal progresses in a backward 

 direction by forcibly ejecting water 

 through this organ. It crawls with the 

 shell on its back, like a snail. 



The poets have given us many beauti- 

 ful writings detailing the vices and virtues 

 of the lower forms of life and among these 

 the Pearly Nautilus and Paper Sailor 

 have received a goodly share of the 

 muse's attention. But, alas ! for the poet, 

 who, not being a conchologist, has sadly 

 misused and misjudged these helpless and 

 harmless creatures. Thus we are told 

 how the paper nautilus sails over the 

 ocean with his "sails" (meaning the two 

 expanded arms) spread out to catch the 

 breeze, and how, when the storm ap- 

 proaches, it folds its sails and disappears 

 beneath the waters of the ocean. Alas 

 for the poet ! he puts the most beautiful 

 ideas together in verse, ideas and themes 

 which we would fain believe ; but along 

 comes cold, calculating science, and at 

 one fell stroke sweeps away all that the 

 poet has done, for in the poem on the Ar- 

 gonaut all is wrong, the animal does not 

 and could not sail, for were it to do so 

 the shell would fall and become lost in 

 the bottom of the ocean. 



A mollusk whose shell is cast upon the 

 shore by thousands, but the animal of 

 which is very rare, is the Spirula. The 

 shell is less than an inch in diameter, is 

 made in the form of a loose spiral and is 

 divided into little chambers connected by 

 a siphuncle. The shell of this genus does 

 not contain the animal, as in Nautilus, but 

 it is enveloped in two flaps of the mantle, 

 at the posterior part of the animal, the 

 shell being concealed with the exception 

 of a part of the edge on each side. The 

 body of the animal is long and cylindrical 

 and the arms are quite short, more near- 

 ly resembling those of the Nautilus than 

 those of the Octopus or squid. The body 

 ends in a disk which is supposed to be a 

 kind of sucker, by which the animal can 

 adhere to rocks, thus enabling it to freely 

 use its arms in obtaining food. It has 



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