GREAT NAUTILUS. 
for, thotigh Rumphius, sometimes called the 
Pliny of the Indies, has given a figure and de- 
scription of the fish, Breynius is of an opinion, 
which most other naturalists have embraced, 
that it is too confused and unintelligible to af- 
ford much satisfadlory information. 
, The following description is chiefly selected 
from Knorr, who names it the Thick Nautilus. 
The Germans call it Schifts-Kuttei, or the 
Ship's Keel ; and the Dutch, Parlemoer Horn, 
or the Mother-of- Pearl Shell. The flesh is 
said to be, externally, cartilaginous ; corrugated ; 
and of a brown colour, spotted with black. 
The colour which appears most distinilly on 
the exterior surface of the shell, is a sort of 
dusky brown, relieved tow'ards the middle by a 
lustre which approaches that of Mother-of- 
Pearl. The shell is surrounded with incurvated 
stripes of a deep reddish brown. Instead of 
contours, or external windings, it has only 
internal chambers, horizontally joining to each 
other in spiral lines. The shell is. the thickness 
of a common knife ; and the size of it often 
comprehends a circumference of from two to 
three feet. The interior of this shell is won- 
derfully magnificent. It is, in fadt, a most bril- 
liant 
