BUTTH0RN. 



131 



Astropccten, Link, t. v. vi. f. 5, 13 ; t. viii. f. 11, 12 ; tab. 



iv. f. 14 ; t. xxvii. f. 44. 



„ Encyc. Meth. pi. ex. f. 1-5 ; pi. cxi. f. 1-6. 



„ Bradley, Works of Nature. 



Var. ? Asterias Jonsto?ii, Della Chiagi, Mem. torn. II. p. 356. 



Stella Marina minor, Jonston, Historia Naturalis, t. viii. f. 11. 



The genus for which the name of Asterias has been 

 specially reserved is one of the most elegant of its tribe, 

 the shape of the species it includes being more regular than 

 that of any other Starfishes. There is but one species 

 belonofingf to it a native of Britain, the Asterias aranciaca 

 or aurantiaca, for the name has been written indifferently 

 either way. It has five equal lanceolate arms, with straight 

 sides, which are bordered by transversely oblong plates. 

 The whole of the disk, and the surface of the arms within 

 the borders, are thickly set with tubercles, crowned by 

 circles or groups of minute spines. These are placed suffi- 

 ciently close together to give the surface a compact ap- 

 pearance. In the centre of the arms and disk they are 

 arranged irregularly, but on the sides there is a tendency 

 to a transverse linear arrangement. The centre of the disk 

 is prominent, and the madreporiform tubercle is small, 

 striate, and very lateral, being placed close to the junction 

 of two of the arms. The marginal plates are prominent 

 and rounded. Their surface is thickly studded with minute 

 tubercles, and their summits are often furnished with two 

 or three short acute conical spines. The sides of the rays 

 at the junction of the upper and lower surfaces are fringed 

 by a border of numerous long, lanceolate, flattened spines. 

 On the under surface, between these and the immediate 

 borders of the avenues, is a broad space covered by thick- 

 set transverse plates, each of which bears upon its summit 

 seven or eight diverging oblique rows of short, flattened, 

 clavate spines. The spines immediately bordering the 



K.2 



