Chapter IV 

 THE STARFISH AND ITS KINDRED 



It is a curious fact that of all the great groups, or 

 phyla, of animals which inhabit the sea, there is only 

 one which is purely marine, which has no relatives or 

 representatives on land. This singular instance is in 

 that division of animals known as the spiny skins, or 

 echinoderms: under which are classed the starfishes 

 {Asteroidea), brittle stars {Ophiuroidea) , sea urchins 

 (Echinoidea), sea cucumbers {Holothiiroidea) , and 

 feather stars and sea lilies (Crinoidea) . Where, for 

 instance, the lobster, the jellyfish, and the horseshoe 

 crab are related to the terrestrial crayfish, the fresh- 

 water hydra, and the garden spider, respectively, we 

 find the starfish and its kindred to have not the re- 

 motest connection with any living forms out of the sea. 



The starfishes are common to nearly every seacoast 

 in the world. The most numerous species along the 

 Atlantic shores of this continent are Asterias vulgaris 

 and A. forhesii; the first named being found from the 

 Carolinas to Labrador, the second from Massachusetts 

 Bay to the Florida keys. They are nearly alike, except 

 that the rays of the former are more pointed and the 

 madreporic tubercle is of a uniform color with the rest 

 of the animal. In the latter this tubercle is orange- 



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