THE CASTING -NET. 89 



its naked bearer to face such odds of offensive and defensive 

 armour. 



When the two met in combat, the Retiarius tried to fling his 

 net over his adversary, and if he succeeded, the fate of the 

 latter was sealed. Entangled in the loose meshes, he could 

 scarcely move his limbs, while the sharp prongs of the long- 

 shafted trident came darting in at every exposed point, and 

 exhausting the man with pain and loss of blood. The trident 



ABG'JF) STAR FISH. "FAN" OP BARNACLE. RETIARIUS. 



was in itself so feeble a weapon, that if the Secutor were 

 vanquished and condemned to death by the spectators, his 

 antagonist could not kill him, but had to call another Secutor 

 to act as executioner with his sword. 



Should he fail in his cast, the Retiarius drew back his net 

 by the central cord, and took to flight, followed by the Secutor, 

 who tried to wound him before he could re-fold his net upon 

 his shoulder, ready for another cast. It is worthy of notice 

 that in these singular combats the netsman seems generally to 

 have been the victor. A Retiarius with his net is shown in the 

 illustration. 



I may mention that our ordinary bird-catchers' nets, and 

 even the entomologist's insect-net, are only modifications of 

 the Casting-net. 



Now for Nature's Casting-nets, two examples of which are 

 figured, though there are many more. These two have been 

 selected because they are familiar to all naturalists. 



The first is the Argus Star-fish, Basket-urchin, or Sea-basket. 



