232 STAR-FISHKS IN THE MORAY FRITH, 



on their sides. There is in the above-mentioned specimen a double row of 

 cirrhi at the side of each ray; one row commences at the fifth scale, where 

 the rav enters the disk, and is placed on a thin plate attached to the side 

 of the ray. The other row is not attached to the ray but the disk. It 

 commences beside the fiddle-shaped plate below, and extends to the upper 

 triangular plates at the root of the rays. When it reaches the upper side 

 of the disk, it is fixed to a large scale that runs along the side of the ray 

 till it reaches the triangular plate. The one row at times overlaps the other, 

 so that both appear as one. The animal has the power of contracting them, 

 for in some parts of the specimen, they are not perceptible. 



Ball's Brittle Star, (Ophiocoma Ballii.) — I find this beautiful Star-Fish in 

 great abundance, brought upon stones, shells, etc., by the lines of the fisher- 

 men, when fishing for cod, haddocks, etc. The disk is generally pentangular, 

 bulging out between the rays. The first specimen I obtained is fully one-fourth 

 of an inch in diameter, and its rays, as nearly as can be measured, are 

 one inch and one-fourth long. The disk is of a pale rose colour, in some 

 rays approaching to white, veined with a much darker rose-colour. The rays 

 of the same pale rose-colour are crossed by bands of a dark red, which 

 become paler as they approach the tips of the rays. In some specimens the 

 disk is nearly white, with rose-coloured rays; in others the disk is variegated, 

 sometimes with rays of a pale rose-colour, sometimes of a brighter colour, all, 

 however, crossed, as in the first specimen, by darker bands of red. In one 

 example the spines are of the same dark red. 



Granulated Brittle Star, (Ophiocoma granulata.) — This is also rather a 

 common Star-Fish; I have now lying before me three rather large specimens. 

 The disks of all of them are pentangular, bulging out at the insertion of 

 the rays, and are of different colours. One is of a bluish colour, another is 

 of a pale rose-colour, and the third is beautifully variegated. I received the 

 last specimen alive, and in so doing enjoyed a real eye feast. The colours 

 were most brilliant, and, though much faded now, enough remains to tell of 

 its former beauty. In the centre there is a small spot of a dark red colour, 

 approaching almost to black. Around this is a reddish dun space of about 

 one-fourth of an inch in radius, with an irregularly notched exterior ed^e. 

 To this succeeds a band of the same dark red as in the centre, shading off 

 into a bright port-wine colour, reaching a full half inch along each ray. 

 The disk measures three- fourths of an inch in diameter, and the rays fully 

 four inches. 



Daisy Brittle Star, (Ophiocoma TJosula,) is rather common. Professor 

 Forbes says the disk is sub-pentangular. I have a specimen before me, 

 ■whose disk is round. 



Hoping that these rude and imperfect notes may induce other naturalists, 

 (a title I do not aspire to,) to give their notes on this interesting subject; 

 I shall not trespass farther on the readers' patience, (if I happen to have 

 any,) nor on the valuable pages of ''The Naturalist;" but close my notes 



i 



