ECHINODERMATA. 91 



Subkingdom ANNUL 08 A. 

 Series I. ANNULOIDA. 



Class ECHINODEEMATA. 



The Ecliiiioderms of St. Andrews, though plentiful, are by 

 no means remarkable, being those generally disti-ibuted over the 

 north-east coast. We do not find the rosy feather, the bird's- 

 foot, and the little cushion starfishes so abundant on the south- 

 em and western shores, the former extending to the tangles 

 of Shetland and far into the Atlantic. The beautiful pale 

 bluish-purple Asterias glacialis, so common under littoral 

 stones at Herm, and the great Luidia Sain'gnii of the sur- 

 rounding cuiTents are absent (though the former occasionally 

 occurs on the east coast of Scotland) ; and so is Asterias 

 Miilleri of the Hebrideau lochs. The northern waters are 

 further distinguished by the piper {Cidan's jjopillata) and 

 swarms of Echinus norvegicus ; and the southern by the 

 splendid condition of the purple, Fleming's, and the silky- 

 spined ui-chins. The profusion of sea-cucumbers characteristic 

 of certain parts affords another contrast : thus, as ti-uly said 

 by Prof. Edward Forbes, the giant of the race seems to have 

 rallied all his subjects around him in the rich tangle-forests 

 of the Zetlandic voes. The vast numbers of Si/iiapta tenera 

 on the muddy banks of the numerous islets in the Sound 

 of Harris is distinctive, just as the abundance of Synapia 

 GalUennii (which the Eev. Mr. Norman seems inclined to 

 link on to S. inhoBrens) is in Belgrave Bay, Guernsey, and 

 a large brownish-purple species on the south-west coast of 

 Ireland. 



The places of the rare are filled by a multitude of the 

 common forms, which abound on the beach after storms, and 

 under stones between tide-marks, or are dredged in the sur- 

 rounding waters. The ease with which the development of 



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