STAR-FISHES. 201 



CHAPTER XXI. 



ASTERIAS THE CROSS-FISH. 



" Non ccelo tantum, sed et mari suse stellae sunt, opera quidem 

 unius Dei artificis, sed diversse prorsus fabricae et naturae. Coe- 

 lestes ubique locorum vulgus conspicit, marinas ne physicorum 

 quidem omnes intuentur." LINCKIUS. 



AMONGST the most interesting decorative and charac- 

 teristic occupants of the marine vivarium must be 

 enumerated the various species of Star-fishes properly 

 so called, constituting the great genus Asterias of 

 modern zoology, a race of animals so beautiful in 

 colour, so elegant in shape, so wonderful in structure, 

 and so peculiar in their habits, that they are at once 

 ornamental and instructive. 



The Star-fishes, as a race, may emphatically be 

 designated marine animals. There is nothing at all 

 resembling them to be met with throughout the fresh 

 waters of the globe; they stand unique and aloof 

 from all other creatures ; while, from the complexity 

 of their organization and their inexplicable attributes, 

 they defy alike the skill of the anatomist and the 

 acuteness of physiological research. 



And yet, who would suppose, at the first aspect 



K5 



