STAR- FISHES. 



113 



amounts to 8333 cwt. ; the price of which varies accord- 

 ing to the quality (for there are more than thirty varieties 

 distinguished in the market), from thirty shillings sterling 

 to upwards of twenty guineas per cwt. The extent of the 

 traffic may be inferred from the number of vessels em- 

 ployed in it : Captain Flinders was informed, when near 

 the north coast of New Holland, that a fleet of sixty proas, 

 carrying a thousand men, had left Macassar for that coast 

 two months before, in search of this sea-slug : and Cap- 

 tain King was assured that two hundred proas annually 

 leave Macassar for this fishery. They sail in January, 

 coasting from island to island, till they reach Timor, and 

 thence steer for New Holland, when they scatter them- 

 selves in small fleets, and having fished along the coast, 

 return about the end of May, when the westerly monsoon 

 breaks up. 



The changes which occur in the development of the 

 Echixodermata are not less wonderful than other passages 

 of their history. Until lately we knew nothing of the 

 infancy of the Star-fishes, but Johann Miiller has, with 

 great skill, industry, and success, solved this problem. 

 The first- condition of every Echinoderm is the same — an 

 egg-like body, covered with cilia, resembling an Infuso- 

 rium. Changes take place, and we presently see another 

 form assumed, which varies in some degree in the diffe- 

 rent families. We lately had the pleasure of finding in 

 our dip-net several little larvae of a Brittle-star — the first 

 that had ever been seen in our seas ; and one of these we 

 will select for description. 



A painter's long easel affords the only object with 

 which to compare the little creature ; for it consists of 



