FEATHER STAR. 169 



attached by an expanded base to the Zoophyte. The 

 column is perfectly flexible, and can be moved at the will 

 of the animal in any direction. Mr. J. V. Thompson, 

 who originally discovered this curious little creature, 

 subsequently succeeded in tracing its development 

 until he found the lily-shaped body had acquired most 

 of the characters of the youngest- Comatula which he 

 could procure in a free state, and was thus led to the 

 conclusion, which the observations of other naturalists 

 have since confirmed, that the supposed Pentacrinus was 

 merely the young of the Comatula, or Feather Star. 



The Feather Star itself is certainly the most beau- 

 tiful of our Star-fishes, but must be seen in a state of life 

 and activity, as it rises in the dredge, to have all its 

 beauties appreciated. Like so many of its kindred, it 

 is exceeding fragile, breaking up shortly after it finds 

 itself in captivity, so that it can rarely, even with the 

 greatest care, be brought to shore in an uninjured state. 

 The body is small, clothed on the back with dense jointed 

 filaments, and having five long slender arms cloven 

 nearly to the base, and thus looking like ten, each 

 branch being closely feathered with slender processes of 

 a very elaborate structure. The whole body is of a deep 

 rose colour, and resembles, when its arms are expanded, 

 a beautiful living flower, every part of which seems alive 

 with independent motions. It would be vain to attempt 

 in a woodcut to give a just impression of such an object, 

 and mere description can afford but a feeble notion of 

 its wondrous beauty. The Feather Star is found all 

 round our coasts, and is frequently brought up in from 

 ten to twenty fathoms water, attached to different kinds 



