LINGTHORN. 139 



in the most gentle manner to introduce Luidia to the 

 purer element. Whether the cold air was too much for 

 him, or the sight of the bucket too terrific, I know not, 

 but in a moment he proceeded to dissolve his corporation, 

 and at every mesh of the dredge his fragments were seen 

 escaping. In despair I grasped at the largest, and brought 

 up the extremity of an arm with its terminating eye, the 

 spinous eyelid of which opened and closed with something 

 exceedingly like a wink of derision. Young specimens are 

 by no means so fragile as those full grown ; and the five- 

 armed variety seems less brittle than that with seven arms. 

 Like other Starfishes, it has the power of reproducing its 

 arms. 



The first recorded specimens of this Starfish are those 

 mentioned by Dr. Johnston as having been taken in Ber- 

 wick Bay. In a large specimen from that locality the 

 dimensions were " diameter of the disk two inches ; length 

 of each ray nine inches, and its greatest breadth one and 

 a half inches. 1 ' He found both the varieties. Mr. Goodsir 

 and I dredged a small five-rayed specimen in about fif- 

 teen fathoms water off Stromness, Orkney. Mr. W. C. 

 Trevelyan finds it in Arran; and Dr. Fleming has 

 found it on the Northern shores. Dr. Coldstream has 

 also taken it on the Scottish coast. On the English 

 coast Mr. Bean has taken both varieties at Scarborough. 

 The five-armed form is there called Lingthorn by the 

 fishermen, and is taken in deep water, but is very rare. 

 Mr. Bean has taken only one specimen of the seven-armed 

 form, which occurred to him in very deep water. This 

 specimen measures eighteen inches across. Under the 

 name of Asterias Pectinata, Mr. Couch notices this species 

 from the Cornish coast in the Magazine of Natural History 

 for January 1840. His specimen also measured eighteen 



