S T A 



S T A 



Tricolor. With five jointed rays, pe£linate at the 

 fidc.s ; tlie ramifications ^re rouijh ; the diflc is liifpid. It is 

 found on the codll of the Fcroe iflands. 



FnAciLis. Dilk (ibicular, muncate, fpinoiis on the 

 back : rays five, joinud and pettir.ate at the fides ; the 

 ramifici.tirns ferruto-munciite : ti.urid in the North feas. 



Tiie moft trcqiient kind of Itarhfli is tliat which has five 

 rays, uhich iflue in tiie manner of lo n^any vermiform, or 

 worm-like procefies : thefe therefore are cd\\edj!f//a vermi- 

 formes, or the worm-Z/ifi; ltar-fi(h. Another kind, nearly ap- 

 pruaching to ttie nature of tliefe, lias more than five rays, 

 and from the fides of thefe other tranfverfe procelles are pro- 

 duced, which are covered with an extremely fine kuid of 

 down, or hairinefs ; thefe ar« called the ba'try ftar-fi(h. A 

 third kind is called the ajlrophyla, or plant-like (lar-fi(h : this 

 is compofcd of a body from whence there arife a great num- 

 ber of braiiches, which divaricating more and more, are at 

 length increafed, or divided into a prodigious number ; and 

 thefe being cyliiidric in figure, refemble very much the 

 branches of plants. Several of the fpecies of the ilar-fifh 

 are eatable, and fome of them afford a very good nourilh- 

 ment. Some are prefcribed by phyficians as ingredients in 

 plafters. 



Every ray of the ftar-fifh is furni(hed with fo very large a 

 number of legs, that they cover the whole furface : they 

 are difpofcd in four ranges, each of which contains about 

 feventy-four ; fo that the whole ray contains three hundred 

 and four, and confequently the fifii has, upon all five of its 

 rays, no lefs than fifteen hundred and twenty legs. With 

 all this numerous train of leg?, however, the animal moves 

 but very (lowly ; and indeed they are fo foft and feeble, that 

 they fcarcely deferve the name of legs, and, more properly 

 fpeaking, they are only a iort of horns, hke thofe of our 

 garden-fnails, but they ferve the animal to walk with, and 

 are therefore called leg?. Mem. Acad. Par. 1710. 



The amazing property of reproducing the eliential parts, 

 when lolt, extends to the ilar-hlli. M. Reaumur, on the 

 difcovery of th:s property in the polype, obfervcd thefe other 

 animals, as they lay on the fhores of P016I0U and other places, 

 and often found that fpecies of ftar.fiih which is very com- 

 monly known, and which has naturally five rays or arms, 

 with only three or four, one or two being wanting ; and on 

 tiking up and examining thefe mutilated ones, nature was 

 always found reproducing the hmb that w as wanting ; and on 

 cutting and breaking other llar-fifh into feveral parts, it was 

 but a very little while before the broken parts cicatrized, and 

 every part remained alive. Phil. Tranf. N° 464. Append. 



The arborefcent Itar-filh, Jlella arborefccns, or caput meilufn 

 of LinnsEUs, is one of the curiofities of nature, found m 

 feveral cabinets of natural rarities. See MtDUSA: Caput, 

 and fupra. Grew, Muf. Reg, Societ. part i. fetl. 5. 

 cap. 4. p. 122. 



This has been found in the north of Scotland, and on the 

 coalt of Cornwall. See BAiKET-F(/5. 



&T\n-Gaz,er, the Englifh name of the urancfcopus. 



Stak-.S'/io/, the common name of a gelatinous fijbltance 

 often found lying on the fmf^ce of the earth, and called by 

 iomejlar-jelly, vxAJlar -fallen. 



The vulgar have been always of opinion, that this was 

 produced from that meteor which they call a falling-ttar ; 

 others have imagined it a vegetable fubllance, and fuppofcd 

 it grew out of the earth ; but it is probably the half- 

 digelled food of herons, bitterns, crows, fea-inews, and coddy- 

 moddics, principally when they have fed upon frogs or 

 earth-worms. 



The heads of frogs arc found whole in maHes of this 

 matter, and alfo parts of worms : thefe birds, when (hot, 



difgorge a fubftance of the fame kind. This is gela- 

 tinous, like a thick mucilatre of gum tragacanth, and cold 

 to the touch. In it are often yellow fpecks and fmall clots, 

 like grumous blood. It fmells like putrid flefh, when kept, 

 and is principally found in mifty mornings, and in wet 

 weather, in autumn, winter, and fpring. Moreton's North- 

 ampton, p. 353. 



Mr. Boyle lays, he has feen this jelly refolved, by digef- 

 tioii only, into a permanent liquor, and that a phyfician of 

 his acquaintance extolled it as a fpecific, outwardly applied 

 to wens. Works, Abr. vol. i. p. 310. 



SrAR-Shot, in Artillery, confills of four pieces of iron, 

 whofe bafes, when feparate, form the quadrant of a circle ; 

 fo that the whole being joined forms a cylinder equal to 

 the fhot of the cannon. Each of thefe pieces is furnifhed 

 with an iron bar, the extremity of which is attached to a 

 fort of link, as keys are llruiig upon a ring. Being dif- 

 charged from the gun, the four branches or arms extend 

 every way from the link in the centre. Thefe are ufed in 

 the feafervice, and chiefly defigned for deihoying the fails 

 and rigging ; but their flight and execution are very pre- 

 carious at any confiderable diltance. 



Star .J/anf, AJieria, in Natural Hiflory, the name of a 

 kind of extraneous foffil, of a very regular figure and fl:ruc- 

 ture, and approaching very much to the nature of the en- 

 trochi, having the fame fubllance and inner iirudure, and 

 being much of the fame fize, though different in form : it 

 comprehends the afleropodia and the appendicuU, or wires 

 of the alterise. The allerire aie by many affirmed to be 

 the fofTile radii of the ftar-fifh of the decempede, or ten- 

 rayed kind : others have thought that (ome fpecies of them 

 have been the remains of the common coriaceous kind*. 

 The encrinos, or liliuiii lapideum, feems to be a j^art of one 

 of the ten-rayed kinds; and the trochitse, and entrochi, are 

 plainly owing to the fragments of feveral of thefe kinds. 

 Linkius, de Stellis Marin. 



Mr. Ellis has particularly defcribcd, and ilhiilrated by 

 figures, folfils of this kind, as well as the animals or ftar- 

 filh to which they belong ; but as the item of the animal, 

 the fpecimen of which he examined, and from which hi» 

 defcription is taken, was broke off Ihort at the bottom, 

 he is in doubt whether it moves about iw the fea, or is fixed 

 to rocks and fliells by a bafe, like corals, fponge?, and 

 keratophytons. Phil. Tranf. vol. lii. part i. art. ^6. 



The afleropodia (fee Asteropodium ), in fubllance and 

 inner flruAure, agree perfectly with the Ihells of the echi- 

 nitoe, found in our chalk pits, and with the alteria: and 

 entrochi ; thefe bodies being all compofed of obliquely- 

 arranged plates of a tabulated fpar : the feveral parts of 

 which they are compofed are all convex on one fide, and con- 

 cave on the other ; but they are of very diffueut fliapes, being 

 fomctimes roundifh, fometimcs oblong, often quadrangular, 

 and not unfrequently of different numbers of angles. They 

 have frequently two, fometimes more, ridges running acrofs 

 them, and fometimes they have tubercle?, or (mall pro- 

 tuberances, ftanding either on their upper or under fide ; 

 they are fometimes found fingle, but more frequently com- 

 pound, or arranged into fmaller or larger parcels, being placed 

 over one another in the manner of the tiles of a houfe, and 

 fcem truly to have been originally part of an imbricated 

 fliell, or crult of fome fpecies of fca-fifh. They arc in 

 thefe compound mafles even very evidently fragments, and 

 are ufually of irregularly broken figures, though fometimes 

 they refemble, in fome degree, parts of the rays of one 

 or other of the kinds of ttar-filh. They are ufually found 

 loofe from the ailerii, though lying among them ; but 

 fometimes the afleria; are reg'ilarly fixed on ihem, jull ai 



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