WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAYS OF THE WILD.

A RATURAUSTS NOTEBOOK.

tile IMOKAQfL ■ J A DMNUTIVB OCTOPUS* (By A. T. PYCROIT.) The shell of the argonaut, commonly called paper nautilus, has been stated to. be the most shell in the world, while the texture of its graceful hall is like the finest porcelain. It was believed that the shell Was a boat juid that the. animal was able to unfurl itself like a sail, and thus traverse the seas. We now know, however, that the more or less rudimentary shell of argonaut is confined to this female, and is a nest in wMeh the eggs are laid and hatched while clasped in the mother's arms. The argonaut is a Gephalopod, that is, one of the highest class of MoDusca. 27b. other inverte* brates are so elaborately constructed, furnished with so quick an eye, so sharp a tooth, so long an arm, qr so conning a brain. Probably a Cephalop°d is more than a match for anything its weight in the marine world. The highest forms of the Qephalopbds sre the cuttlefish, squids octopi. The argonauts belong to the order Dibranchia, and much resemble an octopus. They have eight afnis, two of which are expanded at the end, and in the case of the female clasp the shell, which is not adherent to the aaSmal ' The arms are neror elevated in the air to enable'the animal to sail the seas. ■as was formerly supposed. ' Three species of the genus Argohauta hare been, found in New Zealand waters. None are solely confined to ♦bo— waters. One species,- Argonauta Argo is cosmopolitan. About ten species are known. They livein .the warm seas, -and some have a wide distribution. The name argonaut perpetuates any one of the Greek beroes mentioned.in Grade mythology, who sailed the seaa with Jason in the Aigo in quest of the Golden Fleece. ■ Propelled by Jet of Water, . \

We now know that this animal swims beneath the. surface by means of the propulsions of a jet' of inter from a siphons! tube or funneL - This funnel is of the breathing apparatus. Water is-taken in at the edge of the mouthfold, which encloses a dumber containing the gills, and is expelled through the tube, which is.difseted towards the forepart, and keel of the shdl. The veiled arms of the female firmly embrace the sidee of the shell. The

also crawls along the bottom of the sea by the contortions of its simple anus, the female holding the shell back upwards with the membraneous arms, which are bent backwards. There is no muscular or organic connection between the animal and the shell, which, when vacated by the argonaut, floats at the mercy of the waves. The male argonaut, besides having no ■bell, is much smaller than the female. Nine inches is about the maximum size of the shell, which is so delicate that it is a matter of wonder that any are found unbroken. -

In the female argonaut the two dorarms are' enlarged to form a veil, which Is applied to the mantle and w®rte» a protective calcareous shell. This *ben dace; not originate' from. a «bellglend,butpertain« to the foot of the tto&usc, and is only formed some ten cr twelve days afterbirth by the hand-like extremities of the two dorsal ttni. In all other Cephalopoda .the shdl is covered or partially covered- over bv the mantle. The shell therefore is internal, and often is rudimentary in some branches of this order, or may be nearly obsolete, as in .the Octopoda. A Het-tempered Fish.

William Beebe describes in "The Arc turns Adventure" many forms of floating oceanic life found in the warm seas. Beebe states there are two kinds of thrills in science, one is the result of long; patient* intellectual .study, the other is an absolutely unexpected discovery. ' *.

The second thrill befell Bee be when surface dredging from the A returns at night. For many nights small white spots were seen floating a boat on the water just beyond the glare of the gangway electric lights. In vain he tried to net them. Now and then several would join together in a sinuous row and swim slowly along. At last one was scooped op and dropped into a small jar. To his astonishment he saw it was an argonaut.. Bee be says:— "Never have I seen a creature with a more explosive temper. Hardly had I changed her to a mril aquarium when she angrily shot forth a cloud of sepia and had'to be transferred twice before her ink bag was exhausted, *Tnf [ could observe her closely. She rested quietly on the bottom with her many arms wrapped about her beautiful brown and white shell. Bat as soon as my face approached the glass she rushed back and forth, shooting directly at me or bumping against the opposite glass and finally backed into a corner. Here sha spitefully squirted spouts of water through her siphon until I gave her a small fish. She matrfmfl it ungraciously, bit its head off and ate the body, feeling suspiciously about with three or four arms in every the while.

"Two days later she went into a paroxysm of rage, that die flung W. self deer of her shell. I carefully picked this tip and found her egn t*iH remaining inside. There were thirteen hundred of them, even-ended «—fc about ten by flfteu milHmrtiw. -with a tiny thread at one end which attached them looeely together, exactly like a miniature, bunch of gupaa; the amallsr steme growing out from larger onesand these in turn form a twisted central rope. The embryos were in various well eyes nOWUIK XUMASAS.

i B. Moore writes as follows frooi Warkworth:—"l have just ml *Hth interest your article in on the kumara, in which y— mention the recording of a Hu specimen at Whangaroa. Ton msy no interested to know that ' ,W ** S* perienoe here three flowering plants, ijjyMgL,' plants in tha n«w from one of oqr I—* jfTw. Biir «en planted out w£rr war and about fifty per m P 1 —** floored- The g ent was a pale heliotrope Mm a small eoavohruluE. mm of these flowering at the roots.