ECHINODERMATA. 91 



Subkingdom ANNULOSA. 

 Series I. ANNULOIDA. 



Class ECHINODERMATA. 



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

 no means remarkable, being those generally distributed 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- 

 ern 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 Savignii of the sur- 

 rounding currents are absent (though the former occasionally 

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

 Miilleri of the Hebridean lochs. The northern waters are 

 further distinguished by the piper (Cidaris papillata) and 

 swarms of Echinus norvegicus • and the southern by the 

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

 spined urchins. The profusion of sea-cucumbers characteristic 

 of certain parts affords another contrast : thus, as truly 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 Synapta tenera 

 on the muddy banks of the numerous islets in the Sound 

 of Hai-ris is distinctive, just as the abundance of Synapta 

 Galliennii (which the Rev. Mr. Norman seems inclined to 

 link on to S. inharens) 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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