THE LINGTHORN. 173 



by twelve or thirteen broad rays, and the whole of 

 the upper surface covered with tubercles ; each tubercle 

 crowned with a tuft of eighteen or twenty long striated 

 spines. The colours are variable, but generally brilliant. 

 Frequently the whole is a brilliant red ; sometimes the 

 disc is red, and the rays white, and sometimes the whole 

 surface is deep purple. Professor Forbes once took a 

 specimen, in which the body was of a fine red, while the 

 spiniferous tubercles were bright green. Very different 

 in aspect from the Sun Star is the Birdsfoot Sea Star 

 (Palmvpes metribranaceus), one of the most singular of 

 our native species. In this the body is pentagonal? 

 with very blunt angles, separated by wide and shallow 

 sinuses, and the whole is so exceedingly thin that it 

 looks more like a piece of shagreened skin than any- 

 thing else. 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. Lastly, I may mention the Lingthorn 

 (Luidia fragilissima), the largest and one of the most 

 interesting of our British species, and very different in 

 aspect from either of those already noticed. It appears 

 to be peculiar to the British seas, and has been taken 

 on various parts of the coast. Those that I have seen 

 in a living state were dredged on the Galway coast. 

 This Star-fish measures at least two feet across. Its 

 body is deeply divided into five or seven lobes, which 

 taper much to the extremity, and are many times longer 

 than the breadth of the disc. The upper surface is per- 

 fectly flat, and densely clothed with minute tufted spines, 

 while the margins of the lobes are fringed with several 



