CHAP. 49.—THE SAILING NAUPLIUS.
Mucianus also relates that he had seen, in the Propontis,
another curious resemblance to a ship in full sail.[1] There is
a shell-fish, he says, with a keel, just like that of the vessel
which we know by the name of acatium,[2] with the poop
curving inwards, and a prow with the beak[3] attached. In
this shell-fish there lies concealed also an animal known as the
nauplius, which bears a strong resemblance to the sæpia, and
only adopts the shell-fish as the companion of its pastimes.
There are two modes, he says, which it adopts in sailing;
when the sea is calm, the voyager hangs down its arms,[4] and
strikes the water with a pair of oars as it were; but if, on the
other hand, the wind invites, it extends them, employing
them by way of a helm, and turning the mouth of the shell to
the wind. The pleasure experienced by the shell-fish is that
of carrying the other, while the amusement of the nauplius
consists in steering; and thus, at the same moment, is an instinctive joy felt by these two creatures, devoid as they are of
all sense, unless, indeed, a natural antipathy to man—for it is
a well-known fact, that to see them thus sailing along, is a bad
omen, and that it is portentous of misfortune to those who
witness it.
1. Cuvier says, that this is only a reproduction, under another name, and
with other details, of the story of the nautilus or argonauta; but under the
impression that the polyp is not the animal which owns the shell, but is
only its associate. It has also been asserted in modern times, he says, that
the polyp has seized this shell by force from some other animal, in order
to convert it into its boat; but the opinion has not been adopted, as the
shell of the nautilus has been never found in the possession of any other
animal.
2. Probably borrowed from the Greeks, who called it a)/katos. It is supposed to have been a small boat, similar to the Roman "scapha;" like our
"skiff" probably.
3. The "rostrum" of the ancient ships of war.
4. "Palmulis." This word also means the blade or broad part of an oar;
in which sense it may, perhaps, be here taken.