The sun., 1881-10-02

Interesting Description of n Nautilus Cnst
Ashore at Elbe 0u.

| Interesting Description Of n Nautilus Cnst
Ashore nt Eiberon.
II wouldn't take q good deal for this"
said fellow stroller along the beach. below
| Elberon. as he held up fine specimen OF the
| pearly nautilus. or ncutilus pompitius n rare
| shell In these waters. " / am not superstitous
! but 1t certainly is a curious circumstance that
this shell. generally found In southern waters.
| should be cast aahore nt this time. found It
| directly behind the Frnncklyn cottage. whore
| the President died. I never knew Of one being
seen on these shores before. There was a ru-
| NOR that one was once stranded on Nantucket
| you know the Gulf Stream 'sets In there-but
| doubt it. It's certainly curious incident. At
sea tho sailors take 1t as sign OF good luck. but
found this just on the edge. out Of reach Of
the waves. and the animal dead.
! i've quite q collection OF shells here" he
continued. pointing to his bulginG pockets. II
followed the beach up this morning from
Ocean Grove It's curious fact that most all
| the works on shells picture the paper nautilus
| or argonaut as having sails. It's all wrong. A
| man came to mo the other day and wanted me to
| buy copy Of q new edition OF Diction-
| ary. glanced 1t over. and lseeing a cut of the
nautilus with all sails act told him didn't want
n book that had mistakes in 1t. He got mad
and wanted to bet me was wrong: but there 1t
| is. and any one that knows anything about
shells knows that 1t is an iinpossibility. A good
many works show 1t the same wav. 1t 10
n wonderfully interesting shell. You 500.
| the animal belongs to tho same tribe as the
giant suuids. sixty and eighty feet long. 1t hns
eight arms. lined with suckers: prominent,
staring eyes, that seem to look right through
] you an ink bag and bills like q bird right in
| the centro OF tho suckers: and In the papery.
delicate shell the animal rests. How does 1t
keep in 2 Well that's just what was going to
| tell you. One would think that the first wave
would wash it out. and. in fact. they often
| found out OF the shell: but the two arms. that
| are generally represented rs sails. are its
hawsers. They clasp the back part OF the
shell. holding the animal in place. while with
| the siphon tho animal forces itself through the
water. These two arms that are rounded and
| like membranes. contain the shell-makng
| ducts and build UP the delicate framework.
| For a long time the animal was thought to
| be a parasite in tho shell. but that was
| proved not so by observing tho animal ro-
pairing the she'll in confinement. The dirsr.-
| did those who first noticed 1t. The female lie
| the only ono that has shell. and in 1t the 'gGs
are found attached TO the interior by singular
stalks. This in itself Is a curious difference:
but the male. who is free swimmer. not 80
large as its mate can hardly be called the male.
1t could better be called the male parent Of the
male. as. wonderful 70 relate. during the bree.-
male ma eG"nsss @ its character. and. separating
from tho male becomes distinct, living
srsau,e ire, ,Hs detached & s'a and ND
female. Beat that. If you can. in the way OF
true fish @ @s,oryl For many , years this curious
and considere,i parasite. and named tho
hectocotye. The male OF many Of the common
octopr.ods OF the South are formed in the same
but is this shell you have found the real
pearly nautilus ?" he was asked.
Yes: il is called the rhambsred nautilus.
but Is entirely different; II has ten arms. and
L cannot leave its shell. to when It Is fastened
by delicate membrane passing through tho
centre OF tho d ferent chambors. u hns no ink
bag. IL comes down from wonderful ancestry
- early days. and this single sonus ia tn. only
living. representative or survivor of NJ:
teen hundred extinct species. The fossil
ammonit's and otnocerolt"s the latter
straight. cham bered cells-.werc Its foreia,ners,
and. according to Prof. Winchell. one OF
In the Black R.vsr Iimestons A shell like that
rushing back ward through the water at high
rate OF snssd. must hnv" been n DANGEROUS
enemy. They are very common from III rea To
ten and fourteen feet long. The ammonites
can be seen in any of our museums. and many
partitions and tho contents that drif,ed ia can
be observed without any trouble. They look
and some are about ~ large. The chambers in
the shell ara supposed To- ennbi- tho animal TO
rise or sink. and undoubtedly the air can bs
taken In and thrown out at the will OF the crea-
turee;"
changing Its colorf"
The tin, OF the she'll does not change 1t ia
generally an olive or yellow brown. and in the
paper nautilus white or pink: but ali The ami
mails OF this family or order Hrs susceptible OF
the greatest changes OF color, and numbers OF
very Interesting experiments have been mado
with them. showing that they. particularly tho
octopus. use their power OF changing color rs a
protective measure. Many fishes do tho same.
Now as an example and the same thing has
been dons with fishes. "" measure out space
here IA shoal water. on Deal Bench. about ten
feet square and cover the bottom with this
black seaws.i that washes ashore here. In
another similar space We throw In quantity Of
r..l. .t.lalf 10 n
leave. as We see 1t. pure whit. sand. Now. INTO
these three enclosures. with white. bacS. and
out of the smell. or better a number ot octo-
pods that have no shell and are bottom animals
they assume all colors-whits. ami black
reddish brown. notified. and al! sorts
ii 'ades the susb nts q, gassini over tnem
while-scveral hours. more or le,s-and, on ra-
turning. the tirst impression Is that the game
has escaped; but II second and closer g!anre
shows that they are still there. but in each case
they have. To a great extent, assumed tue shade
OF the bottom color-are. in fact. protected by
the resemblance. in color Ii tners was u con-
trast between them and the white. black. or gray
by some means. and are hardly noticeaie. In
similar experiments with lie OF the FOUNDER
One fish remained white on a black bottom and |
that was found 10 be blnd.
The animal sees the bottom it is on. but the
change Resulting from this observation u in- !
voluntary. rs II were. caused by different lights
or "olors affecting the color cells Of tho |
birds. fishes &C.. i, divided into two general
partitions, the epidernis and cults. the latter
containing cells full Of pigment. or coloring I
matter of different kinds. Now. these pigment 4
cells are in ayers thp iI.ntest nearest tue sur
iace. the red or brown next. and. below. the /
black. and on the expansion or contrir'tIon of /
THESE cells the changes ot color III al animals /
are owing. II all the coils relax. the octopus Will
appear black. Cells that when eNpaItlst look /
yellow or green become orange color waeu con- I
tracted. and so on"
Bur what Is the secret OF this expansion and /
contraction -
An" he replied If We could answer that J
Wa could become famous Tomorrow. All We
know Is that il Is so.