ISO 
LECTURE X. 
two other smaller ones j and each of these, at a 
somewhat farther distance, into two others, still 
smaller j this mode of regular subdivision being 
continued to a vast extent, and in the most beau- 
tiful gradation of minuteness, till at length the 
number of extreme ramifications amounts to se- 
veral thousands. By this most curious structure, 
the animal becomes, as it were, a kind of living 
net, and is capable of catching such creatures as 
are destined for its prey, by the sudden contrac- 
tion of all its innumerable ramifications, and thus 
the object is secured beyond all power of escape. 
For examples of this animal I must refer to the 
British and Leverian Museums. 
The Sea-Stars in general have a very consider- 
able degree of reproductive power, and if injured 
b}^ accidental violence, or if one or more of the 
limbs be cut or torn off, the animal will in time 
be furnished with new ones. They wander about 
the ocean in quest of prey, more particularly near 
the shores, and feed not only on the softer sea-ani- 
mals, but on the smaller shell-fish. Their mouth, 
■which, as I before observed, is situated beneath, 
is armed with hard and sharp teeth, resembling a 
kind of spines, and converging towards the centre 
