FOUND IN CORNWALL. 33 



slight depression ; on the other rays only one row of spines, 

 which are irregularly scattered. There is also a marginal 

 row pointing obliquely downwards and forwards. The co- 

 lour above, reddish brown ; tufts round the spines yellow\ — 

 Interior of the stomach j)ale green, and surrounded by eleven 

 teeth. This species bears a greater resemblance to Asterias 

 glacialis than to any other known to me ; but besides its su- 

 perior size, it differs in having the rays less tapering and more 

 flaccid. The proportion of the rays to the disk is also differ- 

 ent ; for whilst in Ast. glacialis they are as two to one, in the 

 species under consideration, on the under surface, where they 

 are best defined, the breadth of the disk is to the length of the 

 ray as two and a half to twelve. The individual spines are, 

 indeed, not much unlike those of Ast. glacialis, but their dis- 

 tribution, and consequently the figure of the body, are differ- 

 ent. The spines on the disk are smaller than those on the 

 rays. The weight of the body cannot be sustained, or even 

 turned over, by lifting it by the rays, without separating them. 

 The specimen came from deep water. 



It must be allowed that on comparing this description with 

 the figure of a portion of a ray of Asterias spinosa in Borlase's 

 Natural History of Cornwall, plate 25, fig. 18, the resemblance 

 is not exact; and I have no opportunity of referring to other 

 original authority. If, therefore, any learned naturalist shall 

 dispute the appropriation of the name, I give it up, on the 

 condition that a more correct reference be given. 



The difficulty of doing this, however, will be somewhat ap- 

 preciated by referring to the present state of our knowledge 

 of some other species, which is far from satisfactory. Thus, 

 in the Mag. Nat. Hist., o. s., vol. ix, page 145, the references 

 are made on the supposition that two species have been con- 

 founded; one of which is studded with produced spines, while 

 the other, strictly speaking, has none, — the moveable, leg-like 

 crutches not being regarded as such. It is true, the species 

 above described cannot have been known to Dr. Johnston ; 

 for he represents his Ast. ruhens, of the length of twenty inch- 

 es, as being superior in size to any other British species. — 

 But the Doctor, who probably is as competent to settle the 

 synonymes of the British Asteriadce, as any naturalist in the 

 kingdom, is in error when he judges it to be the same as that 

 which he has represented at page 145 of the same volume; 

 and which also is different from that which I understand to 

 be signified by the name of Ast. ruhens. The latter, as shown 

 in Pennant's Brit. ZooL, vol. iv., plate 30, fig. 58, ed. 1757, 

 closely resembles a species familiarly known in Cornwall, 

 which does not commonly exceed the size given in the plate, 



Vol. IV.— No. 37, n. s. f 



