THE BUTT-THORN. 335 
disk is red, and the rays white tipped with red. It grows toa 
considerable size, having been found eleven inches broad. 
The Goniasters, or Cushion-stars, are distinguished from thie 
allied species by their pentagonal form. One of the most singular 
of our native species is the Birdsfoot Sea-star (Palmipes membra- 
naceus), being the thinnest and flattest of all its class) When 
alive it is flexible, like a piece of leather, and a person who 
had never seen it before would be apt to mistake it for the torn 
off dorsal integument of some gibbous goniaster. The colour 
is white, with a red centre and five red rays, proceeding one to 
each angle. The whole upper surface is covered with tufts of 
minute spines arranged in rows. 
The Asteriz, with their stellate body and flat rays, are very 
different in aspect from the Goniasters. The Butt-thorn (Aste- 
rias aurantiaca) owes its name to one of those strange super- 
stitions which originate in some inexplicable manner, and are 
handed down by one credulous generation to the next. “The 
first taken by the fishermen at Scarborough is carefully made a 
prisoner, and placed on a seat at the stern of the boat. When 
they hook a butt (halibut) they immediately give the poor 
star-fish its liberty and commit it to its native element; but if 
their fishery is unsuccessful it is left to perish, and may even- 
tually enrich the cabinet of some industrious collector.” 
To the family of the Asteriz belongs also the Ling-thorn 
(Luidia fragilissima), the largest, and one of the most interest-’ 
ing of our British species. When full grown, it measures two 
feet across, and would appear to exceed that size occasionally, judg- 
ing from fragments. The rays are from five to seven in number, 
quite flat, and generally five times as long as the disk is broad. 
The colour is brick-red above, varying in intensity, the under 
surface being straw-coloured. The wonderful power which the 
Luidia possesses, not merely of casting away its arms entire, but of 
breaking them voluntarily into little pieces with great rapidity, 
approximates it to the brittle-stars, and renders the preservation 
of a perfect specimen a very difficult matter. 
“The first time I ever took one of these creatures,” says 
Edward Forbes, “I succeeded in getting it into the boat entire. 
Never having seen one before, and quite unconscious of its 
suicidal powers, I spread it out on a rowing-bench, the better 
to admire its form and colours. On attempting to move it for 
