XXII. Observations on the genus of Ocythoë Rafinesque, with a description of a new species

Pliny, Aldrovandus, Lister, Rumphius, d'Argenvile, Bruguiere, Bosc, Cuvier, and Shaw, have described a species of this genus, that is often found in the Argonauta argo (common paper-nautilus) and which they have regarded as its animal, since no other inhabitant has been observed in it. Sir Joseph Banks, and some other naturalists, have always entertained a contrary opinion, believing it to be no more than a parasitical inhabitant of the Argonaut's shell, and Rafinesque, (whose situation on the shores of the Mediterranean, has afforded him ample opportunities of studying this animal, and of observing its habits) has regarded it as a peculiar genus, allied to the Polypus of Aristotle, residing parasitically in the above mentioned shell.