Microstructural features of embryonic shells of Nautilus macromphalus and N. pompilius at different stages of development were observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy on the basis of specimens recovered from the Kasai and Toba Aquaria, Japan. The results of our observations reveal that the early embryonic shell development of Nautilus can be divided into two major stages with different shell structure and ornamentation. In the first stage, a low cap-shaped shell with a distinct median depression (= cicatrix) is secreted by the shell gland in the sequence of outer conchiolin and inner spherulitic prismatic layers. In the second stage, a new shell consisting of outermost conchiolin, outer prismatic, middle nacreous, and inner prismatic layers appears at the outer margin of the cicatrix, marked by a discontinuity in the shell structure (constriction) at the boundary. It is ornamented with longitudinal growth lines and radial undulations, indicating shell secretion at the mantle margin. During the second stage, a protoseptum, which comprises outer prismatic, middle nacreous, and inner prismatic layers, is also added on the adorai side of the cicatrix by the rear mantle. These early embryonic shell features of Nautilus are similar to those of Carboniferous orthocerids, but are clearly distinguished from those of coleoids and ammonoids, both starting with a spherical initial chamber.