262 THE OCEAN WORLD, 
Mysteries of Nature, who can sound yourdepths? Secrets or the 
moral world, what being but God has the privilege of comprehending 
you? A large species of star-fish (Luidia fragillissima), 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 
