Page:Natural History, Mollusca.djvu/34

22 exeelexceed [sic] the thinnest glass. They possess a pair of large membranous fins, which closely resemble the wings of a butterfly, and by using these organs in a flapping manner, the little animals swim briskly about.



Perhaps some of my readers will expect me to include the beautiful Paper Nautilus (Argonauta), among swimming Mollusks; seeing that the poets have claimed for it the honour of teaching navigation to man:—

Montgomery, the poet of the ocean, thus beautifully expresses the popular notions concerning it:—