EYED CRIBELLA. 101 



The genus Cribella forms a connecting link between the 

 Urasters and the Solasters. It has the form of the former, 

 with the suckers and texture of the latter. The name 

 Lhikia given it by Nardo must be rejected on account of 

 a genus of plants having been so named previously, there- 

 fore I have adopted Professor Agassiz's proposed appel- 

 lation. At the same time I feel by no means convinced 

 that a name should be changed, if long established, for the 

 reason I have mentioned : there are great generic ap- 

 pellations common to both animal and vegetable kingdoms 

 universally adopted, and yet causing no confusion. It had 

 best, however, be avoided ; a repetition of the same name 

 generically in either of the organic kingdoms separately is 

 quite inexcusable. 



Two species of this genus inhabit the British seas : there 

 are several exotic forms. The first of our native species, 

 the Asterias oculata of Pennant, seems strangely enough to 

 have been confounded, both by many British writers and 

 foreign naturalists, with Uraster rubens and Solaster endeca. 

 Its colour must have misled in the former case, its texture 

 in the latter. It received its name of oculata, either on 

 account of the moniliform pores, or the five dark spots 

 which occasionally mark the origins of the rays. The 

 pores on the surface are not characteristic of this genus 

 only, as Professor Agassiz seems to think. They may be 

 seen in many other Starfishes, and in the young of almost 

 all the species. In the living animal, a brownish peritoneal 

 membrane pouts out at each pore. Are they not subser- 

 vient to respiration? 



The rays are five in number, rounded, and generally 

 nearly four times as long as the disk is broad ; they vary 

 in form according to the state of the animal. When it is 

 in egg, they are broad and swelled out at their bases ; 



