170 OPHIUR^: AND OPHIOCOJLE. 



of sea- weed, which it lays hold of by means of the claws, 

 which tip the filaments that clothe its body. 



Professor Forbes's second family, the Ophiuridce, are 

 those which are now most abundant in the British seas, 

 and whose remains, were the bottom of our ocean now 

 converted into rock, would be found in the greatest 

 plenty through its marbles. It is these that come up 

 in the dredge in such vast profusion ; yet the different 

 kinds are not numerous, only twelve having been as yet 

 noticed on the British shoi'es. They are easily recognised 

 from the true Star-fishes by their small round bodies, 

 from which issue five long serpent-like or worm-like legs, 

 which are armed with spines, and move about in all 

 directions. When the creature swims or crawls about, 

 either of which motions it can effect with great ease, its 

 long legs twist and wriggle, or lash the water like whips, 

 while the spines serve as additional locomotive organs 

 over flat surfaces. The British species are classed under 

 two genera, the OPHIUR^;, or Sand Stars, of which two 

 kinds inhabit our shores, and the OPHIOCOM^E, or Brittle 

 Stars, of which we possess ten. These last are the most 

 characteristic of the type, some of them having legs (if 

 we may so call them) several inches long, and no thicker 

 than small whipcord, with round bodies half an inch in 

 diameter. The rays of such species remind us, as Pro- 

 fessor Forbes well remarks, of so many Centipedes or 

 Annelides attached, at regular distances, round a little 

 Sea Urchin. All these animals are very brittle, and if 

 not plunged, immediately on being gathered, into fresh- 

 water, so as to cause instant death, it is impossible to 

 prevent their falling in pieces. 



