Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
May 30, 1794
Primary Source Reference:
Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 30 May 1794
Notes:
The argonauts (genus Argonauta, the only extant genus in the family Argonautidae) are a group of pelagic octopuses. They are also called paper nautiluses, referring to the paper-thin eggcase that females secrete. (Wikipedia)
The donor was probably Alexandre Morancy, the author of Monsieur de la Crocheterie, ou, La nouvelle du sept décembre mil sept cent quatre-vingt-dix comédie en un acte et en prose, avec un divertissement (Cap-Français, Haiti, 1791). He presented a copy to the Library Company of Philadelphia, suggesting that he was one of the French refugees who fled to Philadelphia at the time of the Haitian Revolution in 1793.
Specimen Type:
Shells
Current Common Name:
Paper nautilus
Current Scientific Name
Argonauta
