STARFISHES, URCHINS AND SEA-CUCUMBERS 57 



granulated with, minute spines, and the arms are provided with 



rows of stout, blunt spines, usually six in a row There are ten 



egg-pouches on the lower side of the disk near the points of origin 



of the five arms. 



The starfish is rare 



in shallow water 



but is abundant at 



a depth of about 



100 feet, where it 



crawls about among 



the rocky crevices. 



It extends from the 



coast of New Jersey 



to the Arctic Ocean, 



and is common on 



the northern coasts 



of Europe, and the 



Pacific coast of 



North America. It 



is figured by Lyman 



under the name 



Ophiopliolis hellis. 



The Basket 

 Starfish, (Astrophy- 

 ton cKjas^Hizii, yi is a 

 species of serpent 

 star whicli is inter- 

 esting in that the arms branch in a forked manner. The central 

 disk is five-sided, and the arms arise from the five angles. At each 

 angle we see two main branches of the arms, then each of these forks 

 giving four branches, and these soon fork again, giving eight. 

 This process is repeated, until, according to Governor John Win- 

 throp of Connecticut, who first described this creature in 1670, the 

 arms give rise to 81920 terminal branches. 



The basket star walks ujDon the tips of these branches, with its 

 body elevated above the ground, and a perfect trellis work of arms 

 sloping outward, so that the creature is about one and one-half feet 

 in diameter. It is dull yellow and brown in color, and is covered 



Fig. 2g; BRITTLE STARS. 

 From Life. Tide Pools; Annisquain, Mass. 



