PAPER NAUTILUS.
CHAPTER X.
THE NAUTILUS.
But there is one of these Sepias, or Cuttle Fish, which I like very much, though its character rests under as severe an imputation for dishonesty and rapacity, as that of the rest. It is that one which inhabits the beautiful white semi-transparent shell, and is called the Paper Nautilus, or Argonaut.
Its body is represented out of the shell in the plate, fig. 3, and you will there see that it is not very different from those that are not provided with shells, except in having two of its eight arms spread out at the ends into a thin membrane or web. You shall hear presently the pretty use which it makes of these webs.
It has no muscular attachment to the shell, as most other shell-fish have, but merely adheres to it by means of its suckers. On this account, some have thought that the Sepia must be an usurper, who has murdered the original master of the shell, and taken possession of his house. But I do not believe there is any truth in this charge, for the same sort of animal is always found in the same shell, and if it be taken out, though it may be kept in salt water, it is sure to die.
When at the bottom of the sea, he walks about with his shell uppermost, like a snail, but of course with a much more rapid motion, and every now and then snatches any mouthful that may take his fancy, with two of his long arms, and conveys it to his horny beak.