262 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



Mysteries of Nature, who can sound your depths ? Secrets of the 

 moral world, what being but God has the privilege of comprehending 

 you ? A large species of star-fish (Lnidia fragillissimd), which in- 

 habits the English seas, has this instinct of suicide to a great extent. 

 The following account, by Professor Edward Forbes, of an attempt to 

 capture a Luidia, gives a good illustration of its powers. " The first 

 time that I took one of these creatures," the Professor says, " I suc- 

 ceeded in placing it entire in my boat. Not having seen one before, 

 and being ignorant of its suicidal powers, I spread it out on a rowing 

 bench, the better to admire its form and colours. On attempting to 

 remove it for preservation, to my horror and disappointment I found 

 only an assemblage of detached members. My conservative endea- 

 vours were all neutralised by its destructive exertions ; and the animal 

 is now badly represented in my cabinet by a discless arm and an arm- 

 less disc. Next time I went to dredge at the same spot I determined 

 not to be cheated out of my specimen a second time. I carried with 

 me a bucket of fresh water, for which the star-fishes evince a great 

 antipathy. As I hoped, a Luidia soon came up in the dredge a 

 most gorgeous specimen. As the animal does not generally break up 

 until it is raised to the surface of the sea, I carefully and anxiously 

 plunged my bucket to a level with the dredge's mouth, and softly 

 introduced the Luidia into the fresh water. Whether the cold was 

 too much for it, or the sight of the bucket was too terrific, I do 

 not know ; but in a moment it began to dissolve its corporation, 

 and I saw its limbs escaping through every mesh of the dredge. 

 In my despair I seized the largest piece, and brought up the 

 extremity of an arm with its terminal eye, the spinous eyelid of 

 which opened and closed with something exceedingly like a wink 

 of derision." 



The mind remains confounded before such spectacles ; and we 

 can only say, with Mallebranche, " It is well to comprehend clearly 

 that there are some things which are absolutely incomprehensible." 



This is doubtless the reason that in collections of natural history 

 we rarely find star-fishes, and especially species of Luidia, entire ; 

 the moment the animal is seized by fisherman or amateur, in its terror 

 or despair it breaks itself up into small fragments. To preserve them 

 whole they must be killed suddenly, before they have time to be 

 aware of their danger. For this purpose, the moment they are drawn 

 from the sea they must be plunged into a bucket of cold fresh water ; 

 this saltless liquid is instant death to these creatures, which in this 

 condition perish suddenly before they have time to mutilate them- 

 selves. The star-fish is a curious ornament in our natural history 



