270 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
Can anyone imagine Ihe existence of a being with only a moat 
and oesophagus, which has neither stomach nor intestines, becau 8 ® 
another animal has possessed itself of them for its own nse ? T^ e 
study of the lower animals abounds in surprises of this kind. It lS 3 
chain of unforeseen facts ; of natural impossibilities ; of realised poiid s 
necessarily reversing all notions obtained in the study of beings wdn c 
have a higher place in the animal scale. The history of the star-fob ® 8 
wonld be incomplete were we to omit mentioning the most remarkal’b 
traits of their organisation with which naturalists are acquainted- 
The animals exhibit in the highest degree the vital phenomena of d ,s ' 
memberment and restoration, that is to say, of the faculty of reed 1 ' 
structing organs which they have lost. These arms, the structure 11 
which is so complicated, and which protect such important organ 8 ’ 
may be destroyed by accident. The animal troubles itself little at tb l8 
mutilation : if he loses an arm it disquiets him but little ; another lS 
immediately procured. We often see in our collections of Aster # 8 
specimens wanting in symmetry because they have been taken befd® 
the new members which are in process of development have attain ® 1 
their definite length. Professor Eymer Jones mentions an instance 0 
redintegration very complete and most curious. This naturalist had d 1 
isolated ray of Asterias which he had picked up ; at the end of five day 8 
he observed that four- little rays and a mouth had been produced ; a 
the end of a month the old ray was completely destroyed, and tb l8 
apparently useless fragment had been replaced by a new being, q 
nit® 
perfect, with four little symmetrical branches. This faculty of repi' 0 ' 
ducing organs, which we have noted in describing the fresh vat® 1 ' 
polypes, the sea anemone, &c., exists also in many other zoophyte 
but in none more strikingly than in the Asterias. But a still ui° r ® 
startling fact remains to be mentioned : one more strange and w ° r0 
mysterious, for it does not belong to the physical or organic ordeL 
but appears to belong to the moral world. The star-fishes com 1111 
suicide ! Certain of these animals appear to escape from dangers wb jC 
menace them by self-destruction. This power of putting an end 
existence we only find on the highest and lowest steps of the an ljn 
scale. Man and the star-fishes have a common moral platform, and 1 
is that of self-destruction ! This power of dismemberment, howeve ’ 
seems to be confined to the Ophrocorna and Luidia — at least, if 1 
only carried out to its full extent in these generse. 
