i8o NATURAL H I S T O R Y of N R WA T. 



continued feveral longifh flits or hollows, like fo many cracks, 

 furr'd all over. Thefe are covered with feveral regular rows of 

 little round protuberances 5 and upon each of thefe, in fome forts, 

 there is another fmall protuberance ; fo that what is called Lufus 

 Naturae by fome, is the mark of a quite different fpecies. They 

 keep on the fandy bottom, or elfe on the fides of the rocks, where 

 they crawl about, and ferve for food to many other forts of Fifh, 

 as alfo to the fea-gulls, and other birds of that kind. It is faid 

 they have ftrength to crufh a Mufcle to pieces, but their rays 

 often in the attempt happen to get in between the fhells, and are 

 nipped off; fo that fometimes, as the proverb fays, the biter is 

 bitten. 

 Sea-fun. As thefe are called Sea-ftars, we have alfo here a fcarcer fort, 



of which I have three fpecimens by me, under the name of the 

 Soe-foele, or Sea-fun ; but it is not called fo by the Norwegians *, 

 but by the Hollanders, who have frequently found it in the Weft 

 Indies, and there given it the denomination of Zee-fonne, or Sea- 

 fun, according to George Marcgrave's account, in his Hift. Nat. 

 Brafilise, Lib. iv. cap. xxii. u Zoophyton aliud hie reperitur 

 (Stella arborefcens Rondeletio 8c Gefnero) nautes vulgo een See- 

 fonne. Ex centro, quod sequabat grofTum Mifnicum 8c cavum 

 erat, ac in fui medio quinquangulare habebat foramen inftar ftellae, 

 tenuiffimis quafi denticulis donattim. Quinque rami crafli prodi- 

 bant, qui deinde, inftar arboris, in multos alios ramos minores 

 difpergebantur varie inter fe inflexos, omnes rotundi 8c quafi coral-; 

 liformes, ita ut orbem facerent. Materia fragilis inftar ftellse" 



This defcription reprefents pretty exactly the rnofl furprizing and 

 leaft known European Star-fifh, or Kors-trold. It differs from all 

 the reft in this, namely, that the legs terminate like branches, with 

 fmall twigs, and thofe twigs again divide into the fineft fibres 

 imaginable. Each of thefe is curl'd up, and all are full of fmall 

 incifions crofs each fibre. This looks very curious, when every one 

 of them is obferved fingly ; but when all the curls are feen in- 

 twined together in a confuted manner, they put one in mind of 

 the poet's defcription of Medufa's head, every hair of which, 

 according to the fable, Minerva transformed into a fnake, for 

 polluting her temple by her lafcivious intercourfe with Neptune, 



vu nous memes, ne nous permettent pas de Ten cfoire. Le Polype rend les fuperfh> 

 ites de fes alimens par la bouche meme, par laquelle ils font entres. Biblioth. Rai- 

 fonnee, T. xxxvii. p. 267. 



* The proper Norvegian name I could not learn for a great while, but at laft I find 

 it is Soe-navle. 1 



tha 



