he has made for himself a highway in the ocean, to unite the scattered family of man.

The shell of the argonaut, or paper nautilus, [Argonauta Argo,] is spiral, involute, and membranous, and consists of a single apartment, or cell. It has a narrow keel,

bordered on each side by a row of conical sharp tubercles; its sides are nearly flat, with numerous angular waved ridges; its color is white, with the keel often brown. It is very thin and brittle, resembling paper in its appearance. This animal is the nautilus of the ancients. It has eight arms, two of which are furnished at the extremities with an oval membrane, which it can at pleasure raise and expand to the gale, while the other six stretch over the sides of the shell, and are used as oars. Impelled by the breeze, this little animal, in its tender bark, has the appearance of a vessel under sail, and glides along the smooth surface of the ocean.

The great chambered nautilus [Nautilus Pompilius] is a native of the Indian seas, and frequently arrives at a very considerable size. The curious structure of its shell, consisting of distinct chambers, communicating with the rest by a small and short open tube, is particularly worthy of admiration. Into this tube or syphon, a small tail-like process enters, which acts as a rudder, and instead of the tentacular legs which distinguish the argonaut, it propels its skiff by a single expansive organ, somewhat similar to the foot of a snail.

It has been supposed, by some, that the animal inhabiting the shell of the paper nautilus, is not its original owner, but has taken forcible possession of this commodious habitation, by destroying its original possessor. Such a supposition, however, appears to be unfounded.

Goldsmith describes this little interesting animal in his usual animated style, and, though he seems to have confounded the two different species, the following account of its sailor-like habits will not fail to be agreeable. "These animals, particularly those of the white light kind, are chiefly found in the Mediterranean, and there are scarcely any who have sailed on that sea, but must have often 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 life and 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 with 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 immediately sinks to the bottom.

Some

times, also, it is seen pumping the water from its leaky 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."

There is something, which wonderfully strikes the fancy, in the instincts and functions of this tiny mariner ; but there is in reality nothing more remarkable in its vessel, directed by a helm, propelled by oars, or scudding under sail, than in those mechanical contrivances with which we are much more familiar, and the wisdom of which makes but little impression on our minds. That

*[But in a previous paragraph it has been stated, that the two expanded feet are used as sails, and the six others as oars; which is the most common, and probably the most correct statement. The two sails may be dipped into the water occasionally, to keep them from getting dry and stiff. Goldsmith's account, I have, after consideration, retained, because, in its general outline, it is likely to be true. A degree of mystery still hangs over the nature and habits of the Argonaut, which needs to be dispelled, before an authentic history of the little sailor and his ivory boat can be given.-AM. ED.]

contrivances so nearly allied to those which human beings, in their skill and ingenuity, have adopted, should be found employed by the Creator to facilitate the locomotion of a cuttle-fish, is certainly curious and surprising; but what is there in these contrivances that indicate design more distinctly than the foot of a quadruped, or the wing of a bird? Or where shall we find, in any part of that apparatus, a skill more perfect than that, which is to be discovered in the conformation of a single feather?

FIFTH WEEK-SATURDAY.

THE CORAL INSECT.

IN glancing over the tribes of invertebrated animals, which form the lowest link in the scale of animal existence, another species, which, on account of the singularity and importance of the structure it rears, seems worthy of arresting our attention, is the coral madrepore. Of the works of this remarkable family of the polypus class, I have already taken some notice, when adverting to the peculiar qualities of the cocoa-nut tree, as adapted to the newly-formed soil of coral islands. A more particular description, however, will exhibit a striking proof of design, as regards the formation itself, which these animals produce.

Of the animal itself, very little is known. It belongs to a class, of which the sponge, and the animalcule which forms the red coral, are members, and the species of which, with a few exceptions,* attach themselves to the solid rock, being deprived of the faculty of locomotion, and, in this particular, form a link between the animal and vegetable worlds. Vincent Rosa, an Italian, has described an animalcule of the same class, and probably of similar conformation and habits, in the following terms.

* One of these floating polypes, the Pennatula argentea, is phosphoric, and emits so brilliant a light, that the fishermen can distinguish what fishes swim near it, and are thus directed to cast their nets.

III.

14

IX.

"From every cell issues a cylindrical animal, resembling an intestine, transversely wrinkled, about half an inch long, and two lines in diameter, and of which the upper extremity, or mouth, is surrounded by twenty-two very short tentacles. These animals, which are pendent, because this madrepore is always fixed under the projections of the rocks, and vibrates at the will of the waves, are always of a lively orange color; they contract as soon as they are touched, and they die upon being taken out of the water. ""*

The general character of all the different kinds of white coral is, that it consists of numerous radiating tubes, variously intercepted, all of which appear to issue from a common base. These are the receptacles of vast crowds of madrepores, which are busied at the surface of the formation, continually adding to the mass by their depositions, and stretching their tentacles from an innumerable aggregation of cells, to procure their food from the surrounding waters.

These tiny creatures, so insignificant individually, possess, in their collective capacity, a power which has astonished all who have turned their attention to the subject. Their countless multitudes, which are continually increasing, are incessantly at work in erecting fabrics of amazing extent, and vast importance in the economy of Nature. It would appear, that, although they are divided into distinct individuals, they are, notwithstanding, all united together, so as to constitute one living mass, throughout the whole extent of the structure, thus forming, according to Kirby, the habitation of "a many-headed and many-mouthed monster, which, at every oral orifice, is collecting means of still increasing its coral palace."

The construction of coral proceeds to a wonderful extent in the warmer climates, and especially in the South Seas.

Captain Beechy has given a most interesting account

* Quoted in Kirby's Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i. p. 180.-[John Ellis first set forth the true nature of the corals, in a work published in London, 1755. He also wrote a letter to Linnæus on the same subject, who, according to Swainson, was not generous enough to give him due and public credit for his very valuable discovery.-AM. ED.]

of the proceedings of these insects, in the formation of their mighty work, and he states some circumstances connected with these proceedings, which prove them to be endowed with an instinct of an extraordinary nature, indicating a wisdom and forethought only referable to that class of faculties, which has already been often brought under our notice, and which Addison describes as "an immediate impression from the First Mover, and the Divine energy acting in the creatures.'

In describing a coral formation called Ducies Island, he informs us, that it takes the shape of a truncated cone, with the base downward, which can be demonstrated to be the form best calculated to resist the action of the water; and he thus proceeds :-"The northeastern and southwestern extremities are furnished with points, which project under water, with less inclination than the sides of the island, and break the sea before it can reach the barrier to the little lagoon formed within it. It is singular, that these buttresses are opposed to the only two quarters whence their structure has to apprehend danger, -that on the northeast, from the constant action of the trade-wind, and that on the other extremity, from the long rolling swell from the southwest, so prevalent in these latitudes; and it is worthy of observation, that this barrier, which has the most powerful enemy to oppose, is carried out much further, and with less abruptness, than the other."

There is another circumstance, no less remarkable, mentioned by L'Amoureux, a natural historian, who has paid particular attention to the operations of the coral insect. "Some," says he, "by their union or aggregation, form a long narrow ridge or reef, which extends uninterruptedly several degrees, opposing an immoveable rampart to the great currents of the sea, which it often traverses, the solidity and magnitude of which increases daily. Sometimes this line of madrepore rocks assumes a circular form. The polypes that inhabit it, gradually elevate their rocky dwelling to the surface of the sea; working then in a sheltered basin, they, by little and little, fill up its voids, taking the precaution, however, to leave,