THE NAUTILUS.

THE Nautilus is a species of sea snail, and although there are several kinds of this creature, yet they all may be divided into two: the one with a white shell, as thin as paper, which it often is seen to quit, and again to resume; the other with a thicker shell, sometimes of a beautiful mother-of-pearl colour, and that quits its shell but rarely. This shell outwardly resembles that of a large snail, but is generally six or eight inches across within, it is divided into forty partitions, that communicate with each other by doors, if I may so call them, through which one could not thrust a goose quill: almost the whole internal part of the shell is filled by the animal; the body of which, like its habitation, is divided into as many parts as there are chambers in its shell; all the parts of its body communicate with each other, through the doors or openings, by a long blood-vessel, which runs from the head to the tail thus the body of the animal, if taken out of the shell, may be likened to a number of soft bits of flesh, of which there are forty, threaded upon a string. From this extraordinary conformation, one would not be apt to suppose, that the Nautilus sometimes quitted its shell, and returned to it again: yet nothing, though seemingly more impossible, is more certain. manner by which it contrives to disengage every H

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part of its body from so intricate an habitation, by which it makes a substance, to appearance as thick as one's wrist, pass through forty doors, each of which would scarcely admit a goosequill, is not yet discovered: but the fact is certain, for the animal is often found without its shell; and the shell, more frequently, destitute of the animal. It is most probable, that it has a power of making the substance of one section of its body, remove up into that which is next; and thus, by multiplied removals, it gets free.

But this, though very strange, is not the peculiarity for which the Nautilus has been most distinguished. Its spreading the thin oar, and catching the flying gale, to use the poet's description of it, has chiefly excited human curiosity. These animals, particularly those of the white light kind, are chiefly found in the Mediterranean; and scarcely any who have sailed upon that sea, but must often have seen them. When the sea is calm, they are observed floating on the surface; some spreading their little sail; some rowing with their feet, as if for lifeand death; and others still, floating upon their mouths, like a ship with the keel upward. If taken, while thus employed, and examined, the extraordinary mechanism of their limbs for sailing, will appear more manifest. The Nautilus is furnished with eight feet, which issue near the mouth, and may as properly be called barbs: these are connected to each other by a thin skin,

like that between the toes of a duck, but much thinner and more transparent. Of these eight feet thus connected, six are short, and these are held up as sails to catch the wind in sailing: the two others are longer, and are kept in the water; serving, like paddles, to steer their course by. When the weather is quite calm, and the animal is pursued from below, it is then seen expanding only a part of its sail, and rowing with the rest; whenever it is interrupted, or fears danger from above, it instantly furls the sail, catches in all its oars, turns its shell mouth downward, and instantly sinks to the bottom. Sometimes, also, it is seen pumping the water from its leaking hulk; and, when unfit for sailing, it deserts its shell entirely. The forsaken hulk is seen floating along, till it dashes, by a kind of shipwreck, upon the rocks, or the shore.

"Two feet they upward raise, and steady keep;
These are the masts and rigging of the ship.
A membrane stretch'd between, supplies the sail,
Bends from the masts, and swells before the gale.
The other feet hang paddling on each side,
And serve for oars to row, and helm to guide.
'Tis thus they sail, pleas'd with the wanton game,
The fish, the sailor, and the ship the same.
But, when the swimmers dread some danger near,
The sportive pleasure yields to stronger fear;
No more they wanton drive before the blasts,
But strike the sails, and bring down all the masts.

The rolling waves their sinking shells o'erflow,
And dash them down again to sands below."

From the above description, I think we may
consider this animal rather as attempting to save
itself from the attacks of its destroyers, than as
rowing in pursuit of food. Certain it is, that
no creature of the deep has more numerous and
more powerful enemies. Its shell is scarcely
ever found in perfect preservation; but is
rally seen to bear some marks of hostile invasion.
Its little arts, therefore, upon the surface of the
water, may have been given it for protection; and
it may be thus endued with comparative swiftness,
to avoid the crab, the sea-scorpion, and the tro-
chus, that lurk for it, at the bottom of the water.

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THE TURBOT AND HOLIBUT.

THE Turbot and Holibut belong to that numerous tribe of fish which are usually called flat fish-They are generally confined to the muddy or sandy banks of the sea, where they have the power of burying themselves as far as the head, for the purpose of escaping the devastations of the more rapacious tribes. They seldom rise far from the bottom, since, from the want of an air-bladder to buoy them up, which most of the other fishes possess, they are compelled to use their breast fins for this purpose,