This is the most curious species of Asterias, or Sea Star. They are
crustaceous animals, and many of the species are noxious to oysters,
others to cod-fish, &c.
The species represented by the Cut, has five rays, dividing into
innumerable lines or branches. The mouth is in the centre, armed with
sharp teeth, which convey the food into the body, and from this mouth
goes a separate canal through the rays. These the animal, in swimming,
spreads like a net to their full length; and when it perceives any prey
within them, draws them in again with all the dexterity of a fisherman.
It is an inhabitant of every sea; and is called by some the Magellanic
starfish and _basketfish_. When it extends its rays fully, it forms a
circle of nearly three feet in diameter; and Blumenbach tells us that
82,000 extremities have been reckoned in one of these curious creatures.
In another species of the Asterias, the power of reproduction is
particularly-striking. "I possess one," says Blumenbach, "in which
regeneration had begun of the 4 rays that had been removed out of 5
which it originally possessed." We have picked up on the seashore many
of the species to which he alludes, and they are much less rare than
that in the Cut. Of the latter we have seen three or four specimens--one
in a small Museum at Margate, and, we think, two others in the Museum in
the _Jardin des Plantes_, at Paris. They resemble a bunch or knot of
dark brown small rope or cord.
There is a popular idea among the Norwegians, that this animal is the
young of the famous Kraken, of which Pontoppidan has related so many
wonders.[5] This monster, it will be recollected, is supposed to live in
the depths of the sea, rising occasionally, to the great danger of the
ships with which it comes in contact, at which times the projection of
its back above the surface of the sea, resembles a floating island.
[5] Nat. Hist. Norway.
Blumenbach has some sensible observations on this subject. When all that
has been said about it is carefully examined, it is clear that various
circumstances have given rise to the misconception. Much of it is
applicable to the whale;[6] much is referable to thick, low, fog-banks,
which even experienced seamen have mistaken for land,[7] an opinion
coinciding with what has been said of this same Kraken, by a Latin
author of considerable antiquity.
[6] See, for instance, the narrative of an accident from the
rising of such an animal, in W. Tench's "Account of the
Settlement at Port Jackson."
[7] See a remarkable instance in _Voyage de la Perouse autour du
Monde_, vol. iii. p. 10.
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We are persuaded that our readers will be delighted with these
attractive facts in the history of the Mantis and Starfish. The
Illustrations themselves are extremely interesting and effective; but in
order to gratify the admirer of Art as well as the lover of Nature, we
have selected for the _Supplement_ published with this Number, a
splendid Engraving of the city of _Verona_, from a Drawing by the late
J.P. Bonington.
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