The Ancient Life History of the Earth: A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of Palæontological ScienceNicholson, Henry Alleyne
Science
The Ancient Life History of the Earth: A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of Palæontological Science
Nicholson, Henry Alleyne
Paleontology
Lastly, the Lower Silurian Rocks have yielded a vast number of
chambered shells, referable to animals which belong to the same
great division as the Cuttle-fishes (the _Cephalopoda_), and
of which the Pearly Nautilus is the only living representative
at the present day. In this group of _Cephalopods_ the animal
possesses a well-developed external shell, which is divided into
chambers by shelly partitions ("septa"). The animal lives in
the last-formed and largest chamber of the shell, to which it
is organically connected by muscular attachments. The head is
furnished with long muscular processes or "arms," and can be
protruded from the mouth of the shell at will, or again withdrawn
within it. We learn, also, from the Pearly Nautilus, that these
animals must have possessed two pairs of breathing organs or
"gills;" hence all these forms are grouped together under the
name of the "Tetrabranchiate" Cephalopods (Gr. _tetra_, four;
_bragchia_, gill). On the other hand, the ordinary Cuttle-fishes
and Calamaries either possess an internal skeleton, or if they
have an external shell, it is not chambered; their "arms" are
furnished with powerful organs of adhesion in the form of suckers;
and they possess only a single pair of gills. For this last reason
they are termed the "Dibranchiate" Cephalopods (Gr. _dis_, twice;
_bragchia_, gill). No trace of the true Cuttle-fishes has yet
been found in Lower Silurian deposits; but the Tetrabranchiate
group is represented by a great number of forms, sometimes of
great size. The principal Lower Silurian genus is the well-known
and widely-distributed _Orthoceras_ (fig. 55). The shell in this
genus agrees with that of the existing _Pearly Nautilus_, in
consisting of numerous chambers separated by shelly partitions
(or septa), the latter being perforated by a tube which runs the
whole length of the shell after the last chamber, and is known
as the "siphuncle" (fig. 56, s). The last chamber formed is the
largest, and in it the animal lives. The chambers behind this
are apparently filled with some gas secreted by the animal itself;
and these are supposed to act as a kind of float, enabling the
creature to move with ease under the weight of its shell. The
various air-chambers, though the siphuncle passes through them,
have no direct connection with one another; and it is believed
that the animal has the power of slightly altering its specific
gravity, and thus of rising or sinking in the water by driving
additional fluid into the siphuncle or partially emptying it.
The _Orthoceras_ further agrees with the Pearly Nautilus in the
fact that the partitions or septa separating the different
air-chambers are simple and smooth, concave in front and convex
behind, and devoid of the elaborate lobation which they exhibit
in the Ammonites; whilst the siphuncle pierces the septa either
in the centre or near it. In the Nautilus, however, the shell is
coiled into a flat spiral; whereas in _Orthoceras_ the shell is
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