S T A 



the entrochi on the modioli, and are plainly fcen to have 

 originally grown out of them. 



The aileropodia feem properly the bafes of the afterix, 

 and the aftenne thewifelves are branches of them. The 

 afterix are fhort, and have commonly fomewhat crooked 

 angular columns, compoled of feveral joints, each refem- 

 blinyj the figure of a radiated itar, with a greater or fmaller 

 number of rays' in the different fpecies : they are ufually 

 found of about an inch in length, and of the thicknefs of 

 a goofe-quill. Some of them Lave five angles or rays, and 

 others only four, and in fome the angles are equidiftant, 

 while in others they are irregularly fo ; in fome alfo they 

 are (hort and blunt, while in others they are long, narrow, 

 and pointed ; and fome have their angles fo very Ihort and 

 obtufe, that at firft fight they may be taken for entrocho- 

 afteriae. The feveral joints in the fame fpecimen are ufually 

 all of the fame tliicknefs ; this, however, is not always the 

 cafe, but in fome they are larger at one end, and in others 

 at the middle, than in any other part of the body ; and 

 fome fpecies have one of the rays bifid, fo as to emulate 

 the appearance of a fix-rayed kind. 



All th.e alterioe are naturally fulcated between the angles, 

 but this in a very difierent degree ; fome are very little fo, 

 while others are cut fo deeply, that the fingle joints of 

 them referable the rovs-els of a fpur. One end of the 

 column is frequently found finely engraved along the edges 

 of the angles, or rays, while the other end is fmooth, or nearly 

 fo ; and the fame is often the cafe alfo in the fingle joints. 

 Not unfrequently, alfo, one end of a column is indented, 

 and the other has five ftrix, running from a hollow centre 

 to the fulci between the rays. They are found of various 

 fizes and colours ; the longelt feldom arrive, however, at two 

 inches ; and they are found of all the intermediate bulk from 

 this down to the length of a barley-corn : they are not un- 

 frequently found, alfo, comprefled and flattened, as is com- 

 mon to the foffils that have been formed in animal moulds. 



They are ufually bedded in ftrata of clay, though not 

 unfrequently in thofe of a lax lort of quarry-ilone, and 

 fometimes in a harder. They ufually have fea-fhells, and 

 other marine remains, lying about them ; and fometimes 

 thefe flielis adhere to the afterias, and when feparated from 

 them, do no injury to the afterias, but themfelves fhew a 

 mark of the figure of the body, or part of the column, 

 when a part has been always wanting in the (hell. 



From the columns of the afteria; there are fometimes pro- 

 pagated certain fmall branches, like thofe of the entrochi ; 

 thefe are called by authors appendicuU ajlcriarum, or the 

 wires of the alteria;. 



S T A 



Thefe are fometimes two incbes long, and the lar<J-e!t or 

 thickeft joint always adheres to the alleria, all the fucceeding 

 ones growing fmaller, and the brancli more tapering toward 

 the end. In their natural fituation on the alleria, they Hand 

 in regular circles at different diftances one above mother : 

 there is always one wire in each of the fulci, or channels of 

 the body, and thefe ttand evenly againft one another. 



Thefe wires or appendiculx are very feldom, however, 

 found in this their native ilate, or fixed to the bodies of 

 the alleria: ; they are commonly found broken off, and lying 

 loofe among them, either in fragments of different lengths, 

 or in fingle joints, immerftd in ftone, or lying among the 

 ftrata of clay. 



The afteriae may be reduced to two kinds ; the firft, 

 thofe whofe whole bodies make the form of a ftar ; the 

 fecond, thofe which in the whole are irregular, but which 

 are adorned, as it were, with conftellations in the parts. 



Dr. Lifter, for diltinftion fake, only gives the name 

 ajler'ta to the former fort, diilinguiftiing the latter by the ap- 

 pellation of ajlroiles ; the other naturalilts generally ufe the 

 two indifcriminately. The afteria fpoken of by the an- 

 cients appears to be of this latter kind. 



The quality of moving in vinegar, as if animated, is 

 fcarcely perceivable in the aftroites, but is fignal in the afteria. 

 The former mull be broken in fmall pieces before it willmove ; 

 but the latter will move, not only in a whole joint, but in two 

 or three knit together. Plott, Nat. Kift. Oxford. 



StlAn-Thiflle, in Botany. See Centaurea CalcUropa. 



Star-//^o)/. See Aster. 



SrAR-Wor/, American, or Trailing, of Vera Cruz. See 

 Tridax. 



Sta r- H^orl, BaJlarJ, a fpecies oi Buphtkalmum ; which fee. 



STAR-/^or/, Tello'U!, a fpecies of Inula; which fee. 



iiT.\R-C bomber. Court of. See Court. 



SrAK-Fort, or Redoubt, in Fortijicatien. See Star, 

 Redoubt,' and Fort. 



STARADI, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, 

 in Natolia ; 42 miles E. of Ifnik. 



STARAPHAXAT, a name ufed by fome of the old 

 writers fur any medicine that reftrains fluxions from the 

 eyes, nofe, or fauces. 



STARA-RUSA, in Geography, a town of Ruflia, in 

 the government of Novgorod, near lake Ilmen ; 56 miles 

 S. of Novgorod. N. lat. 57^40'. E. long. 31° 50'. 



STARASELLA, a town of Italyi in Friuli ; 8 miles 

 N.E. of Friuli. 



STARBOARD, in Sea Language, is the right-hand 

 fide of a (hip, when looking forward from the ftern. 



END OF VOL. XXXIII. 



PriolMl by A. Strahan, 

 Ncw-Strtet-Squarr, Luiiilun. 





