90 URASTERI.E. 



these stars are not only able to creep, but also to swim ; 

 which is probable, since Mr. Couch (who calls it Asterias 

 glacialis after Fleming) tells us in his Cornish Fauna, that 

 it is " abundant in the early months of spring, but they 

 retire to deeper water in summer. 11 The same ardent natu- 

 ralist has also a note on the species in the twenty-seventh 

 number of the new series of the Magazine of Natural 

 History, where he says, " This species is in great abun- 

 dance in spring, being found in multitudes in the fisher- 

 men's crab-pots, the baits of which they readily find. As 

 the season becomes warmer they disappear, and in summer 

 comparatively few are seen." In the same place he de- 

 scribes the following remarkable monstrosity of this " the 

 Clam or Cramp. It is of the ordinary size, and possesses 

 eight rays ; but to distinguish it from the simple duplica- 

 tion of parts, it possesses three of those circular dorsal 

 organs, the use of which is uncertain, but of which a 

 common specimen possesses only one. These three occupy 

 triangularly one-half of the disk, and seem connected with 

 four of the rays, the other four lying distinct from them.' 1 

 Probably the result of the union of three ova. 



