The inhabitant of this singular shell had long been sought after
with eagerness by naturalists, and it is only within these few years
that its true nature has been ascertained. We are indebted for this
knowledge to the researches of the late Mr. George Bennet, who, while
engaged in a voyage among the Polynesian Islands, captured a specimen
containing a living animal, which was brought to England, and is now
deposited in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
The shell of the Nautilus, as may be seen by the engraving, is divided
into numerous cells. The use of these cells to the animal we are now
describing, was formerly not well understood, but they were supposed to
be employed, by their inhabitant, for the purpose of rising or sinking
in the Water at will. The body of this _Cephalopod_, it will be seen,
only occupies the outer cell of its habitation, its increased size
having rendered it too large to remain in that preceding it. If, as
the animal deserted its smaller tenements, one after the other, they
had been filled, up with solid matter, the shell would have become too
cumbersome for its owner; so that we have here another proof of the
providing care of the Creator. We shall describe, in Mr. Bennet’s own
words, the capture of this interesting object.
[Illustration: THE PEARLY NAUTILUS,