Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff, Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor on his scaly rind, Moors by his side under the lee, and waits The wished approach of morn. I dare say you will be ready to think that these things are very unlikely, and I shall not much differ from you if you do. But no doubt some of these creatures must be very large, and much to be dreaded, or such things would never have been said of them. [Illustration: PLATE XVI. PAPER NAUTILUS.] CHAPTER X. THE NAUTILUS. But there is one of these Sepias, or Cuttle Fish, which I like very much, though its character rests under as severe an imputation for dishonesty and rapacity, as that of the rest. It is that one which inhabits the beautiful white semi-transparent shell, and is called the Paper Nautilus, or Argonaut. [Illustration] Its body is represented out of the shell in the plate, fig. 3, and you will there see that it is not very different from those that are not provided with shells, except in having two of its eight arms spread out at the ends into a thin membrane or web. You shall hear presently the pretty use which it makes of these webs. It has no muscular attachment to the shell, as most other shell-fish have, but merely adheres to it by means of its suckers. On this account, some have thought that the Sepia must be an usurper, who has murdered the original master of the shell, and taken possession of his house. But I do not believe there is any truth in this charge, for the same sort of animal is always found in the same shell, and if it be taken out, though it may be kept in salt water, it is sure to die. When at the bottom of the sea, he walks about with his shell uppermost, like a snail, but of course with a much more rapid motion, and every now and then snatches any mouthful that may take his fancy, with two of his long arms, and conveys it to his horny beak. When the weather is fine, and he is disposed to enjoy it, he partly empties his shell of water, so as to make himself lighter than the surrounding sea, and comes up to the surface, on which he floats like a little ship.