THE STAR- FISH. 



561 



from the extremity. But what was most sur- 

 prising of all, in some, particularly in the 

 small red-headed earth-worm, both extremi- 

 ties survived the operation; the head produced 

 a tail, with the anus, the intestines, the annu- 

 lar muscle, and the prickly beards ; the tail 

 part, on the other hand, was seen to shoot 

 forth the nobler organs, and in less than the 

 space of three months sent forth a head, a 

 heart, with all the apparatus and instruments 

 of generation. This part, as may easily be 

 supposed, was produced much more slowly 

 than the former, a new head taking above 

 three or four months for its completion ; a 

 new tail being shot forth in less than as many 

 weeks. Thus two animals, by dissection, 

 were made out of one, each with their separate 

 appetites, each endued with life and motion, 

 and seemingly as perfect as that single ani- 

 mal from whence they derived their origin. 



What was performed upon the earth-worm 

 was found to obtain also in many of the ver- 

 micular species. The sea- worm, the white 

 water-worm, and many of those little worms 

 with feelers, found at the bottom of dirty 

 ditches ; in all these the nobler organs are of 

 such little use, that if taken away, the animal 

 does not seem to feel the want of them ; it 

 lives in all its parts, and in every part ; and 

 by a strange paradox in nature, the most use- 

 less and contemptible life is of all others the 

 most difficult to destroy. 



CHAP. III. 



OF THE STAR-FISH. 



THE next order of zoophytes, is that of the 

 star-fish, a numerous tribe, shapeless and de- 

 formed, assuming at different times different 

 appearances. The same animal that now ap- 

 pears round like a ball, shortly after flattens 

 as thin as a plate. All of this kind are 

 formed of a semi-transparent gelatinous sub- 

 stance, covered with a thin membrane, and to 

 an inattentive spectator often appear like a 

 lump of inanimate jelly, floating at random 

 upon 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 possessed of life and motion ; 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 re- 

 sisting shell, have been found in the stomachs 

 ot these voracious animals ; and what is very 

 extraordinary, though the substance of their 

 own bodies be almost as soft as water, yet they 



VOL. II. 



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 light resembling that of phosphorus. 

 Some have given these animals the name of 

 sea-nettles, because they burn the hands of 

 those that touch them, as nettles are found to 

 do. They are often seen fastened to the rocks, 

 and to the largest sea-shells, as if to derive 

 their nourishment from them. If they be 

 taken and put into spirits of wine, they will 

 continue for many years entire : but if they 

 be left to the influence of the air, they are, in 

 less than four and twenty hours, melted down 

 into limpid and offensive water. 



In all of this species, none are found to 

 possess a vent for their excrements ; but the 

 same passage by which they devour their food, 

 serves for the ejection of their fasces. These 

 animals, as was said, take such a variety of 

 figures, that it is impossible to describe them 

 under one determinate shape ; but in general 

 their bodies resemble a truncated cone, whose 

 base is applied to the rock to which they are 

 found usually attached. Though generally 

 transparent, yet they are found of different 

 colours, some inclining to green, some to red, 

 some to white, and some to brown. In some, 

 their colours appear diffused over the whole 

 surface, in some they are often streaked, and 

 in others often spotted. They are possessed 

 of a very slow progressive motion, and in fine 

 weather they are continually seen, stretching 

 out and fishing for their prey. Many of them 

 are possessed of a number of long slender 

 filaments, in which they entangle any small 

 animals they happen to approach, and thus 

 draw them into their enormous stomachs, 

 which fill the whole cavity of their bodies. 

 The harder shells continue lor some weeks un- 

 digested, but at length they undergo a kind 

 of maceration in the stomach, and become a 

 part of .the substance of the animal itself. 

 The indigestible parts are returned by the 

 same aperture by which they were swallowed, 

 and then the star-fish begins to fish for more. 

 These also may be cut in pieces, and every 

 part will survive the operation ; each becoming 

 a perfect animal, endued with its natural 

 rapacity. Of this tribe, the number is various, 

 and the description of each would be tedious 

 and uriinstructing ; the manners and nature 

 of all are nearly as described ; but I will just 

 make mention of one creature, which, though 

 not properly belonging to this cla.ss. yet is so 

 nearly related, that the passing it in silence 

 would be an unpardonable omission. 



Of all other animals, the cuttie-nsh, though 

 in some respects superior to this tribe, posses- 

 4 B 



