fHE STAR-FISH. 181 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE STAR-FISH. 



next order of zoophytes is that of the Star- 

 fish, a numerous tribe, shapeless and deformed, 

 assuming at different times different appearances. 

 The same animal that now appears round like a 

 ball, shortly after flattens as thin as a plate. All 

 of this kind are formed of a semi-transparent ge- 

 latinous substance, covered with a thin membrane, 

 and, to an inattentive spectator, often appear like 

 a lump of inanimate jelly, floating at random up- 

 on the surface of the sea, or thrown by chance on 

 shore at the departure of the tide. But upon a 

 more minute inspection, they will be found pos^- 

 sessed of life and motion j they will be found to 

 shoot forth their arms in every direction, in order 

 to seize upon such insects as are near, and to 

 devour them with great rapacity. Worms, the 

 spawn of fish, and even muscles themselves, with 

 their hard resisting shell, have been found in 

 the stomachs of these voracious animals ; and 

 what is very extraordinary, though the substance 

 of their own bodies be almost as soft as water, 

 yet they are no way injured by swallowing these 

 shells, which are almost of a stony hardness. 

 They increase in size as all other animals do. In 

 summer, when the water of the sea is warmed by 

 the heat of the sun, they float upon the surface, 

 and in the dark they send forth a kind of shining 



