STARFISHES, URCHINS AND SEA-CUCUMBERS 357 
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 
Ophiopholis bellis. 
The Basket 
Starfish, ( Astrophy- 
ton agassizii,) is a 
species of serpent Fig. 29; BRITTLE STARS. 
From Life. Tide Pools; Annisquam, Mass. 

star which 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 upon 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 
