i3 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
which she carries with her, that it makes her a "thing 
of beauty " as she drives herself backwards through 
the water. The shell-bearing Argonaut is the mother, 
for the father is like an ordinary octopus and has no 
covering ; and indeed that which the mother carries 
Fig. 50 
The Mother Argonaut floating in the water.* Verany. e, Eggs. 
is not a true shell, but a chalky nest built up by the 
ends of two of her arms, which are spread out into 
broad webs and folded back over her body where 
they lay down that beautiful delicate film of lime, 
the "Argonaut shell." Under this shell, still keep- 
ing it covered with her arms, she places her bunches 
of eggs, and stretching out the other six arms, can fly 
backwards through the water carrying her brood with 
her, or can, like the cuttle-fish, float quietly or creep 
along the bottom. 
But perhaps the most beautiful shell of all is that 
* When in rapid movement the arms are in a straight line, as in the 
Octopus (Fig 49). 
