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. * * * * * 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. * * * * * CATS.