ASTERIAS. 89 



with clanger, or productive of injury, tlie animals are bi'ought under the 

 readiest controul, merely by privation of water. 



In the natural state, Star-fish are disposed to crawl into fissures for 

 protection as the tide ebbs, underneath stones, or into shells. When 

 deprived of their natural element, they are helpless. 



No race of the animal creation is more numerously and more exten- 

 sively distributed : they swarm throughout the Scotish seas in great 

 variety, and in multitudes incredible. Spite of the incessant persecution 

 they undei'go, of the perpetual war of extermination which is waged 

 against them, theu' legions remain undiminished. 



Where such myriads can obtain subsistence is unaccountable. But 

 although voracious, they are promiscuous feeders, — highly carnivorous, 

 and capable of enduring long abstinence. Perhaps most animal sub- 

 stances are acceptable, and possibly some vegetable substances are also 

 devoured. None of the naked marine Vermes are qualified for offering 

 any effectual resistance ; the progress of the smaller bivalve testacea 

 being easily arrested, they are involved by the arms of their rapacious 

 assailants, and, if fragile, crushed in the grasp ; or if larger and stronger, 

 they may be swallowed alive. All dead animals, if soft enough, are like- 

 wise rendered a prey. The mouth in the under surface dilates widely, 

 and, in proportion as the stomach is filled, the convexity of the back be- 

 comes elevated. 



The fishermen of some districts entertain an inveterate antipathy to 

 the Star-fish, which is rooted in the belief of their being most destructive 

 to oysters in particular. They find them, they say, in the very fact, 

 actually within the shells, devouring the contents. But this seems an 

 unfounded prejudice, leading to indiscriminate vengeance against the 

 imaginary offenders. The ancients indeed have recorded the destruction, 

 by this feeble enemy, of the largest inhabitants of shells apparently im- 

 penetrable, and from them the modern opinions have likely originated. 

 Nevertheless their truth is yet problematical. Nor is it evident how the 

 alleged warfare can be carried on, or how the larger bivalves can be either 

 reached or extracted. By attending to the nature of the two races of 

 animals we shall perhaps deem such a fact the more and more improbable, 



M 



