CONCIIOLOGY CONCLAVE 203 teuthis, found in the Oxford clay at Chippen- ham, England, was so perfectly preserved that the muscular mantle, fins, ink bag, funnel, eyes, and tentacles with their horny hooks, were all distinguishable. A similar discovery, described by Buckland, is noticed in the article BELEMNITE. Some of the fossil ink bags found in the lias are nearly a foot in length, and are invested with a brilliant pearly layer; the ink forms excellent sepia. In the sepiadce of this class the shell is the spongy calcareous substance known as cuttle bone. It is a broad laminated plate, as long and wide as the body in which it is en- closed. It grows to an extraordinary size, one being noticed by Banks and Solander in the Pacific, near the equator, which was about 6 ft. in length. To the same class belongs the nau- tilus pompilius, the only living representative of the order tetrabranchiata, of which fully 1,400 fossil species are known, among which are the ammonites. Its light shell is separated into air chambers by numerous partitions, which greatly increase its strength and add but little to its weight. The four species of argo- nauts are also cephalopoda ; their shell is thin and translucent like paper, and serves as a boat to the animal that sits unattached within, his long tentacles stretching forth from the pro- jected head, and the short funnel beneath it forcibly spurting forth water, the recoil of which sends the animal backward. This is the shell which Aristotle called the nautilus, and fancifully described, as many others have since, under the name of paper nautilus, as floating in fine weather upon the surface with its sails spread to the breeze. The whole number of species of molluscous animals known is esti- mated at about 12,000 recent and 15,000 fossil. Many of the living species furnish wholesome food, and some are esteemed as delicacies. The shells are principally composed of carbonate of lime, the other ingredients, of the oyster for instance, being 1-2 per cent, of phosphate of lime, and 0'5 of animal matter ; the shells of the brachiopods consist largely of phosphate of lime. They are therefore well adapted for be- ing burnt to quicklime, used as calcareous flux- es in smelting ores, or applied as fertilizers to the soil. The marine shells, by the immense numbers in which they are produced, perform an important office in abstracting from the sea water its excess of calcareous matter, and thus aiding to maintain its purity. As objects of beauty, shells have always been admired, and frequently appropriated to uses as ornaments. Some varieties were used by the Athenians as ballots, with the name upon them of the person to be banished, whence the term ostracism. Some shells, as the cyprcea moneta, have served the purposes of coin among rude nations. Others, as the marine amcula margaritifera and the fresh-water imio margaritiferus, are noted for the pearls which are secreted be- tween their valves around some foreign sub- stance. Mother-of-pearl is the polished shell of nacreous structure. Rare species of shells are highly prized by collectors, and single specimens have been sold for exorbitant sums. Woodward ("Manual of the Mollusca") cites the sums once paid for such, as 100 guineas for a carinaria, now worth only Is. ; 40 for a wentletrap, now worth 5*. The conus gloria marls has fetched 50 more than once, and cyprcea unibilicata sold for 30 in 1850. CONCHOS, or Conehas, a river of Chihuahua, Mexico, which rises high up in the Sierra Madre, flows S. E., N". E., and then N., through a beautiful tract of country, comprising the richest of the table land of Chihuahua, and empties into the Rio Grande near Presidio del Norte, in lat. 29 30' N., Ion. 104 40' W., after a course of about 350 m. It is the largest tributary of the Rio Grande, and very little inferior in size to that river itself. Its principal branches are the Florido, Buenavista, San Pe- dro, Chihuahua, and Balleza. COM IM, Condno. See ANCEE, MARSHAL D CONCLAVE (Lat. cum, with, and eaM,.key), the apartments where the cardinals of the Ro- man Catholic church assemble for the election of a new pope, or the assembly of cardinals shut up for such election. Many reasons have led to the bestowing on the college of cardinals the exclusive right of electing the pope, as well as to the reclusion in which they are kept while exercising that right. During the era of persecution the position of bishop in Rome or elsewhere was one of great peril, for which none but the most eminent in virtue were like- ly to be chosen by the clergy and people. But already in the age of Constantine the play of human passions became frequently but too ap- parent both in the men who aspired to the episcopal office, and in those in whose gift it was. In proportion as the church increased in numbers, wealth, spiritual influence, and political power, so did the choice of men to fill such great sees as those of Rome, Constan- tinople, and others, become the occasion of most unseemly intrigue and strife. The em- perors, from motives of policy, wished to have seated in the papal chair men who would sub- serve their own interests ; and from first pro- tecting the liberty of ecclesiastical elections, they soon came to oppress it. Justinian claimed the right of confirming the choice of the Roman clergy and people, and this in practice meant the setting it aside. It was further maintained that Adrian I. had bestowed on Charlemagne the right of choosing the pope ; but be that as it may, the German emperors constantly in- terfered in papal elections, causing thereby ever-recurring disorders, delays, divisions, and sometimes bloodshed. To protect the freedom of the electors, and to put a stop to these scan- dalous contentions, Nicholas II. in 1059 decreed that in future the election of the Roman pon- tiff and the administration of his see during the vacancy should be the exclusive right of the cardinals of the Roman church. After a violent struggle with the imperial power, these statu- tory dispositions triumphed through the energy
