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nI’ve mentioned severalntimes before the questions that were raised in the more recent past about thensupposed wisdom of the ancients and how some of their ideas were replaced bynempirical scientific research. Let’s look at another example.
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| The Argonaut – Pierre Belon – L’histoire naturelle des estrangers poissons marins – 1551 |
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n“The nautilus is a polypus peculiar both in its nature andnits actions; for it sails upon the surface of the sea, rising up from thendepths of the waters. It is brought to the surface with its shell inverted, innorder that it may go out more easily and navigate in an empty shell. When itnreaches the surface, it turns its shell over. There is a membrane extendednbetween two of its tentacula similar to the web feet of birds, except thatntheirs is thick and that of the nautilus thin and like a spider’s web. This itnuses for a sail when the wind blows, and it extends two of its tentacula fornrudders. If alarmed, it fills its shell and sinks in the sea.”
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nAristotle History of AnimalsnBook IX Chap 25 Para 12
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| The Argonaut – Mrs Loudon’s Entertaining Naturalist – J W Loudon – 1867 |
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nThe creature Aristotle isndescribing in the Paper Nautilus (Argonauta argo), a cephalopod relatednto octopi and cuttle-fish. The English name comes from the delicate,npaper-thin, white egg-case built by the females and the Latin name derives fromnArgus, the legendary ship-builder, who constructed the Argo, the shipnthat carried Jason and the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece. Thenbeautiful shells are frequently found on Mediterranean shores (which is wherenthe type specimen was collected). Aristotle’s description was repeated fromnantiquity well into the Nineteenth century – Pliny the Elder repeats it in BooknIX Chap 47 of his Natural History, Oppian wrote about it in his poem Halieutics:n-
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| The Argonaut – J Lamarck – The Book of Shells – 1837 |
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n“Two feet they upward raise,nand steady keep ;n
nThese are the masts and rigging of the ship:n
nA membrane stretch’d betweennsupplies the sail,n
nBends from the masts, andnswells before the gale.n
nTwo other feet hang paddlingnon each side,n
nAnd serve for oars to row and helm to guide.n
n‘Tis thus they sail, pleasednwith the wanton game,n
nThe fish, the sailor, and thenship, the same.”n
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nLord Byron includes an allusionnin The Island: –
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n“The tender nautilus, whonsteers his prown
nThe sea-born sailor of hisnshell canoe,n
nThe ocean Mab, the fairy ofnthe sea.n
nSeems far less fragile, and,nalas ! more free.”n
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| Argonauta argo – Thomas Brown – The Elements of Conchology – 1816 |
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nA particularly beautiful versionnis in James Montgomery’s Pelican Island: –
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n“Light as a flake of foam uponnthe wind,n
nKeel upward from the deepnemerged a shell,n
nShaped like the moon ere halfnher horn is fill’d;n
nFraught with young life, itnrighted as it rose,n
nAnd moved at will along thenyielding water.n
nThe native pilot of thisnlittle barkn
nPut out a tier of oars onneither side,n
nSpread to the wafting breeze antwo-fold sail,n
nAnd mounted up and glided downnthe billown
nIn happy freedom, pleased tonfeel the air
And wander in the luxury of light.”n
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| The Paper Nautilus sailing – Henry Lee – Sea Fables Explained – 1883 n |
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n And Alexander Pope, in his Essaynon Man, wrote: –
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n“Learn of the little Nautilusnto sail,n
nSpread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.”n
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nThe class cephalopoda is divided into two subclasses – the Coleoidea (which includes octopi, squid, cuttle-fish etc andnthe extinct belemnites) and the Nautiloidea (the nautolids and the extinct ammonites). This is where some confusionnarises – the Paper Nautilus, although a cephalopod, is not a member of thensubclass nautiloidea.
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| Argonauta argo – Lovell Reeve – Conchologia Systematica – Vol 2 – 1841 |
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nThey get theirnname from the resemblance to the nautolids (from the Greek root for sailor) and the supposed sailing behaviour described bynAristotle, but the shell is actually an egg-case which forms around thenfemale’s body and is, in effect, a nest. Although it is used as a buoyancy aid,nit is not chambered like the shell of the true nautilus, which has separatenair-chambers within it.
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| Paper Nautilus crawling – Henry Lee – Sea Fables Explained – 1883 |
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nThe female holds onto the shell with two of her eightntentacles, and often travels along the sea-bed with it raised above her.
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| Swimming Nautilus – Charles Knight – A Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature – Vol 2 – 1844 |
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nWhennshe swims, she propels herself with a siphon in the manner of other octopi,nwith those tentacles not holding onto the shell trailing behind her. The PapernNautilus is usually quite a small shell, although it can reach quite largenproportions – a specimen with a diameter of just over 10 inches sold in 1850snAmerica for $500, and I have seen a shell just over 8 inches in diameter beingnoffered for over £160 recently.
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| Argonauta argo |
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