joz AST* 
natural colour of thefe creatures is blue, but when dried 
they become of a brownifh yellow. When (tar-fifb, which 
otherwife attraft the damp, and retain the fmell of fait 
water, are demolithed by putrefaction, or killed by any 
accident, they appear like a heap of grains ; and it is af¬ 
firmed, that not only every little piece, but even every 
vertebra, produces a new animal ; and hence it is that a 
Itar-filh in the fea, which has been mutilated, fo foon reco¬ 
vers itfelf. The upper (ide of this creature is fhewn in 
the Afterias Plate II. fg. x. and they are found in great 
plenty in the Ealt Indies, in the Antilles, and in the gulph 
of Mexico. 
2. Afteria ophiura, or lumbricale, a fpecies very com¬ 
mon in the North Seas ; but the one reprefented, Jig. 2. 
in this Plate, is much larger and darker, and was found 
in the American Ocean* The upper furface of this ani¬ 
mal is compofed of rings or vertebrae, which communi¬ 
cate a power of motion to the rays or arms on every fide. 
The rays are of a membranaceous fubftance, and very ten¬ 
der. Its colour is blue when in the natural hate ; but 
when dried becomes reddifh or afh-coloured. This fpecies 
is found on rocks, and between lumps of coral, to which 
it will firmly adhere. It has the power of quick motion, 
its rays being entirely compofed of a regular vertebrae. 
3. Aflerias rubens, or (far-fifh, the whole fubftance 
whereof appears like an alfemblage of bones in the form 
of wedges, w hich in their (ize and figure refemble fmall 
bruihes^ and are fnppofed to be the young of the parent 
animal ; every one of which, as they encreafe in bulk, 
and approach to maturity, fall off from the parent, and 
become a feparate Itar-fifh. It has already been noticed 
that tire rays or arms of this animal, after having been 
broken oft, will regenerate, and grow again ; which fact 
is clearly proved in the fubjeCt from which fig. 3. was en¬ 
graved. This creature had by fome accident loft the fifth 
ray ; but the accretion of a new one, fmall, and juft grow¬ 
ing out, is plainly to be feen in the plate. 
4. The tetradtis petaloides of Mr. Link. This creature, 
having only four rays, is very rare and curious. It is befet 
with excrefcences, and little tufts alternately difpofed, 
but which are fo clofe and thick, that it is impoflible to 
examine them diftinctlv without deltroying the whole ; 
they are however fnppofed to be the young growing from 
the parent animal. This is another fpecies of the afteria 
rubens of Limueus. 
5. Afleria aranciaca, or the altropeCten echinatus minor 
of Mr. Link. The IhuCture of this individual differs very 
materially from the others, although the rays fpring from 
a point in the centre, and the bones are placed in rows like 
tliofe of the preceding, but more numerous, and differ from 
each other in lize. This fpec es is not rough, and the 
bones are laid fiat by the lides of each other, being only 
feparated by deep notches. In the centre part, where the 
five rays unite, the laft vertebra of two of them, at the 
point where they are oppoled to each other, form an ob- 
lon< v aperture to each ray ; there are therefore five fuch 
apertures. The upper furface of this fpecies alfo differs 
from the other varieties ; and nothing but a fimilar ver¬ 
tebrae to that above-mentioned is to be oblerved ; only that 
thole of the under furface turn a little round the fide, and 
then become jagged. With refpeCt to the other exterior 
parts, they are "all befet wiih an infinite number of hairy 
points, thick-fet and ereCted, like the furface of coari'e 
pin [h. Everyone of thefe ereCted points is fnppofed to 
be a new animal growing out of the fubftance of the old. 
fi. Afteria aculeata, or the ftella marina fcolopendroides 
of Mr. Link. The body of this fpecies is round, or pen¬ 
tagonal, or in the fhape of a Rower; and every ray has 
four rows-of thorny points, fo that every vertebra his four 
prickles. On the under furface of the rays, between the 
vertebra: of the fides, may be feen a great number of pores, 
in the form of little dots or points ; and the mouth confifts 
of an aperture in the centre, in the form of a ftar. Thefe 
creatures are natives of America, and are very abundant 
among^he a lcyons. 
AST 
If it be true, that from every bone, or* from every tuff 
of prickles, there fprings out a new creature ; in that cafe 
every Tingle individual would become the mother of more 
than fifty thonfand young ones. All thefe little tufts or 
brufhes are laid in rows, one after another, and united to 
each other by a tranfparent membrane, like that which is 
covered with white powder in the wings of butterflies. 
There are indeed in every ray many fuch like rows of 
tufts; and the bones are in many of them difengaged and 
feparated from each other, fo as to make the creature ap¬ 
pear hairy. On the laft row of bones arifes a new row by 
accretion, which are alfo duly feparated, while the laft row 
is united by a membranaceous fubftance, and conftitutes the 
interior part of the animal, as far as the new bones are fet 
in. If then a Angle layer is put in all round, the creature 
receives from thence more than twenty-five thonfand new 
parts ; and this number is increafed by every new layer 
or augmentation of circumference, in a manner fo prodi¬ 
gious, that even a new creature is formed among the for¬ 
mer bones. There may be fome reafon to doubt, whether 
after a continuance of this prodigious multiplication, the 
fea would be able to contain fo many of thefe inhabitants: 
but the whale, the fea-horfe, the iword-filh, the fea-cows 
and lions, as well as many other great animals, derive their 
nouriftiment from thefe creatures, and confcquently pre¬ 
vent too great an increafe of them. 
Ariftotle and Pliny called this genus and fella ma¬ 
rina , from their refemblance to the pictured form of the 
ftars of heaven; and they afterted that they were fo ex¬ 
ceedingly hot, as inftantly to confume whatfoever they 
touched. The foflil world has been greatly enriched by 
the fragments and remains of the feveral pieces of ftar-filh 
which have been converted into ftones. See Asteria. 
Asterias , J\ in botany. See Gentiana. 
ASTERISCOI'DES, J. in botany. See Osmites. 
ASTERIS'CUS,/. in botany. See Anthemis, Buph- 
THALMUM, and SlLPHtUM. 
AS'TERI SI'MILIS,/ in botany. See Erigeron. 
AS'TERISK, /. Gr.] A mark in printing 
or writing, in form of a little (tar ; as (*).—He alfo pub- 
liflied the tranflation of the Septuagint by itfelf, having fix ft 
compared it with the Hebrew, and noted by aferijks what 
was defective, and by obelifks what was redundant. Grew. 
AS'TERISM, f. The lame with conftellation, or a col¬ 
lection of many ftars, w’hich are ufually reprefented on 
globes by fome particular image or figure, to dift-inguifh the 
liars which compofe this conllellation from thofe of others. 
ASTE'RIUS, or Astu'rius, a Roman conful, in 449. 
We have, under his name, “ A Conference on the Old and 
New Teftament,” in Latin verfe : in which each ftrophe 
contains, in the firft verfe, an hiftorical fact in the Old 
Teftament; and, in the fecond, an application of that faiit 
to fome point in the New. 
ASTERN', adv. [from a and fern .] In the hinder part 
of the (hip ; behind the Ihip : 
The galley gives her fide,-and turns her prow, 
While thole afern, defcending down the deep, 
Through gaping waves behold the boiling deep. Dryden. 
ASTEROCEPHALUS,/ - . inbotany. See Scabiosa. 
ASTEROI'DES, or Bastard Starwort. See Inu¬ 
la, Buphthalmum, and Conyza. 
ASTEROPzE'US, foil of Pelegon, and king of Paennia, 
who, being at the liege of Troy, was.killed by Achilles. 
ASTE'ROPE, a daughter of Atlas, and one of the 
Pleiades. A daughter of Pelias, who afiifted her filters 
to kill her aged father, whom Medea promiled to reftore 
to his youth. 
ASTEROPLATYCAR'POS. See Othonna. 
ASTEROPO'DIUM, f A kind of extraneous foftil, 
of the fame fubftance with the alierias or (tar-ltones, to 
•which they ferve as a bafe. 
ASTEROP'TERUS. See Inula and Leysera. 
To ASTERT', v. a. [A word ufed by Spenfer, as it 
feems, for fart, or far Lie. To terrify; tollable; to fright: 
Wc 
