268 THE OCEAN WOELD. 



Can any one imagine the existence of a being with only a mouth 

 and oesophagus, which has neither stomach nor intestines, because 

 another animal has possessed itself of them for its own use ? The 

 study of the lower animals abounds in surprises of this kind. It is a 

 chain of unforeseen facts ; of natural impossibilities ; of realized points 

 necessarily reversing all notions obtained in the study of beings which 

 have a higher place in the animal scale. The history of the star-fishes 

 would be incomplete were we to omit mentioning the most remarkable 

 traits of their organisation with which naturalists are acquainted. 

 The animals exhibit in the highest degree the vital phenomena of dis- 

 memberment and restoration, that is to say, of the faculty of recon- 

 structing organs which they have lost. These arms, the structure of 

 which is so complicated, and which protect such important organs, 

 may be destroyed by accident. The animal troubles itself little at this 

 mutilation : if he loses an arm it disquiets him but little ; another is 

 immediately procured. We often see in our collections of Asterias 

 specimens wanting in symmetry because they have been taken before 

 the new members which are in process of development have attained 

 their definite length. Professor Kymer Jones mentions an instance of 

 redintegration very complete and most curious. This naturalist had an 

 isolated ray of Asterias which he had picked up ; at the end of five days 

 he observed that four little rays and a mouth had been produced ; at 

 the end of a month the old ray was completely destroyed, and this 

 apparently useless fragment had been replaced by a new being, quite 

 perfect, with four little symmetrical branches. This faculty of repro- 

 ducing organs, which we have noted in describing the fresh water 

 polyps, the sea anemone, &c., exists; also in many other zoophytes, 

 but in none more strikingly than in the Asterias. But a still more 

 startling fact remains to be mentioned : one more strange and more 

 mysterious, for it does not belong to the physical or organic order, 

 but appears to belong to the moral world. The star-fishes commit 

 suicide ! Certain of these animals appear to escape from dangers which 

 menace them by self-destruction. This power of putting an end to 

 existence we only find on the highest and lowest steps of the animal 

 scale. Man and the star-fishes have a common moral platform, and it 

 is that of self-destruction ! This power of dismemberment, however, 

 seems to be confined to the Opliiocoma and Luidia at least, it is 

 only carried out to its full extent in these generse. 



