Part 9

The True, or Pearly Nautilus, (N. Pompilius,) the origin of whose specific name we have been unable to discover, is much like the Argonaut in appearance and general construction; the shell is externally smoother and more iridescent, it is also generally somewhat thicker than the former kind, and has internally more chambers or divisions; its pearly lustre renders it a beautiful ornament, and the large size it frequently attains a very conspicuous one. Its inhabitant has several peculiarities of organization, which distinguish it from the Argonauts, but into these we need not enter; neither can we pause to describe the other species of nautili, the shells of which, like those of the Cowry and other univalves, are covered with a membrane which hides their beauty. This membrane or mantle sometimes extends some distance beyond the edge of the shell, and, being of a light and filmy appearance, may have been mistaken for a sail hoisted by the creature to catch the breeze, while its long arms, thrust up into the air or down into the water, may have been thought to be masts or oars, so that the poets are not so much to be blamed, if they say as Wordsworth does.

“Spread, tiny Nautilus, the living sail, Dive at thy choice, or catch the freshening gale.”

Nearly allied to the Nautili are these beautiful fossil shells called Ammonites, from their fancied resemblance to the horns of a heathen deity or god, called Jupiter Ammon. These shells, at once the wonder and pride of geologists, are found in the chalk formations, and thousands of years must have passed away since they were inhabited by living creatures. The Nautili which swam and sported with them at the depths of the ocean, as is proved by the shells of many species found in the same chalky deposits, have still their living representatives, but those winding galleries and pearly chambers once fragile as paper and brittle as glass, now turned into, and surrounded by solid stone, are all shells of extinct species, and we can hardly see and handle them without some degree of awe and reverence; when we reflect on the great and wonderful changes that have passed over the earth since they were formed by a hand divine, instinct with the breath of life, and then to be embedded in the rock as everlasting characters by which the unborn generations of men might read in history of those changes, and of the providential dealings of God with his creatures. Of these Ammonites, and other fossil shells, much more will have to be said in our proposed geological volume; the poem which follows will very appropriately conclude the above remarks, and our present little work on shells—beautiful, wonderful shells! useful, ornamental, instructive! The subject is one which we would earnestly invite our young readers to study: it is but here introduced; we have picked up a few, very few, of the wonders and beauties of conchology, and presented them to their notice in the hope that they may be induced to desire a more intimate acquaintance with this branch of natural science, which has been hitherto greatly neglected. To understand it thoroughly, much attention and perseverance will be required, but even a slight acquaintance with it will yield both pleasure and profit to the mind.

THE NAUTILUS AND THE AMMONITE.

The Nautilus and the Ammonite, Were launched in storm and strife; Each sent to float in its tiny boat, On the wide, wild sea of life.

And each could swim on the ocean’s brim, And anon its sails could furl, And sink to sleep in the great sea deep, In a palace all of pearl.

And their’s was a bliss more fair than this, That we feel in our colder time; For they were rife in a tropic life, In a brighter, happier clime.

They swam ’mid isles whose summer smiles No wintry winds annoy; Whose groves were palm, whose air was balm, Whose life was only joy.

They roam’d all day through creek and bay, And travers’d the ocean deep; And at night they sank on a coral bank, In its fairy bowers to sleep.

And the monsters vast of ages past, They beheld in their ocean caves; And saw them ride in their power and pride, And sink in their billowy graves.

Thus hand in hand, from strand to strand, They sail’d in mirth and glee; Those fairy shells, with their crystal cells, Twin creatures of the sea.

But they came at last to a sea long past, And as they reach’d its shore, The Almighty’s breath spake out in death, And the Ammonite liv’d no more.

And the Nautilus now in its shelly prow, As o’er the deep it strays, Still seems to seek in bay and creek, Its companion of other days.

And thus do we, in life’s stormy sea, As we roam from shore to shore; While tempest-tost, seek the lov’d—the lost, But find them on earth no more!

G. F. RICHARDSON.

INDEX.

PAGE.

INTRODUCTION.

What are Shells iii

Conchology iv

Beauty and Value of Shells vi

Uses of Shells viii

The Inhabitants of Shells xi

Malacology ib

Classification of Shells xii

Taking and Preserving Shells xiii

The Cabinet ib

On Cleaning and Polishing Shells xv