NAUTILUS. 



TESTA univalvis, libera, siiborbicularis, conca- 

 nierata, convoiuta, anfractibus contiguis, septis 

 transversis, extus concavis, siphunculo per- 

 forate, marginibus integris; apertura amplis- 

 sima. 



Although^ by common consent, this has been called iV«w- 

 tilus, even among scientific authors, it is not the Nautilus 

 of Pliny*, nor does it seem to be better entitled to the ap- 

 pellation, notwithstanding its cephalopodous animal pro- 

 bably possesses the power of raising it to the surface and 

 swimming about thereon while living, and notwithstand- 

 ing it appears that the shell, when the animal is dead, must 

 necessarily swim, in consequence of its peculiar construc- 

 tion, rendering it specifically lighter than the water, until 

 the chambers becoming filled with water after all traces 

 of the animal are gone, it would as surely sink to the 

 bottom. Our reason for supposing it undeserving of the 

 name it bears, is that it could not swim in such a position 

 as would make it bear any resemblance to a sailing vessel, 

 and it is not probable that its animal, which is carnivo- 

 rous, and whose prey must be constantly in the water, 

 should have either the means or the disposition to place 

 its shell in such a position : and even if we were to sup- 

 pose that the animal had such means, which is indeed most 



* The commonly received fictions (first broached by Pliny) which have 

 sometimes been so elegantly embodied, do not belong to this, but are intended 

 to apply to the Argorinvta or Paper Sailor. 



