It's because * in a prototype is used for a filehandle. Quick, what does this do:

open MYCLASS, "$filename";
print MYCLASS;   #print to MYCLASS or call MYCLASS->print?
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How about this?

sub new(*) {...}
open MYCLASS, $filename;
new MYCLASS;   #main::new(*MYCLASS) or MYCLASS->new?
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And this?

sub new(*) {...}
open CGI, $filename;
new CGI;   #main::new(*CGI) or CGI->new?
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In all those (except the first) it calls main::new, passing it the filehandle. And since filehandles autovivify, you don't even need to have it open()ed.

=cut
--Brent Dax
There is no sig.