Asterias rubetis. 

 20 



U5 



A. hispida? Pen., Brit. Zool., iv. 128. pi. 32. fig. 2. A. spinosa? Peiu, 

 Brit. Zool., iv. 129 ; Turt., Brit. Faun., 139 ; Flem., Brit. Anim., 487 — 

 ? Borl., Cornw., 259. tab. 25. fig. 18. 



Of the star-fishes found in Berwick Bay, this is the least 

 attractive; but a preference has been given to it in these illus- 

 trations because of some obscurity which hangs over its no- 

 menclature: for I can scarcely reconcile the descriptions of 

 authors with the animal before me ; and the figures of Pennant 

 and Borlase tend rather to bewilder the enquirer than to guide 

 him to a safe conclusion. They are very different from one 

 another; and yet there is something which leads me to guess 

 that they are intended to represent the same object, unless, 

 indeed, the figure of the Cornish historian may not be refer- 

 able to some variety of the Ophiura Rosula ! 



listerias rubens, or the species here exhibited, is not very 

 common on this coast, and4s always an inhabitant of the deep 

 sea, from which it is occasionally drawn by the lines of our 

 fishermen. It reaches a size superior to any other species, 

 the extreme diameter being sometimes more than 20 inches, 

 and the rays, at their insertion, as thick as a child's wrist. 

 It is so remarkably brittle, that it is rare to obtain a perfect 

 specimen, and impossible to preserve it so; for, whether handled 

 or not, killed quickly or allowed to die slowly, the arms break 

 Vol. IX. — No. 59. m 



