STAR-FISHES. 37 



fresh water, to which article Star-fishes have a great 

 antipathy. As I expected, a Luidia came up in the 

 dredge, a most gorgeous specimen. As it does not 

 generally break up before it is raised above the surface 

 of the sea, cautiously and anxiously I sunk my 

 bucket to a level with the dredge's mouth, and pro- 

 ceeded, in a most gentle manner, to introduce Luidia 

 to the purer element. Whether the cold air was too 

 much for him, or the sight of the bucket too terrific, 

 I know not, but, in a moment, he proceeded to dis- 

 solve his corporation, and at every mesh of the dredge 

 his fragments were seen escaping. In despair, I 

 grasped at the largest, and brought up the extremity 

 of an arm with its terminating eye, the spinous eyelid 

 of which opened and closed with something exceed- 

 ingly like a wink of derision." 



I may add that Joppa and its neighbourhood is 

 not only extremely rich in varieties of Brittle Star- 

 fishes, but in good specimens of the true Star-fishes, 

 as the Common Sun-star (Solasier papposa), the 

 Purple Sun-star (Solaster endeca), the Rosy Cribella 

 (Cribella rosea), and the Common Cross-fish (Uras- 

 ter rubens). 



If the reader has perused the prefatory motto to 

 this chapter, he will be reminded of the popular 

 belief entertained regarding the power of the Star- 

 fish to prey upon the Oyster. The poet, in this, as 

 in so many other cases, has not invented a story, but 

 availed himself of a belief that has been transmitted 

 from very distant periods. Indeed the Admiralty 



