INFANT FEATHER- STAR. 183 



functions ; and from the convex surface spring a number 

 of jointed stony threads, like necklaces, much shorter 

 and slenderer than the arms, which serve as claspers, 

 gripping and holding firmly the projections of the rock, 

 by means of strong curved claws with which they are 

 terminated, in shape like those of an eagle. 



The whole elegant creature is of a lively rose tint, 

 interrupted by patches of bright yellow, disposed with 

 no regularity or apparent order ; the whole, both the 

 yellow and the rosy portions, studded with crimson 

 dots. Edward Forbes, if I rightly understand him, con- 

 siders these dots to be ovaries, which he estimates at 

 upwards of 57,000 in number. 



In infancy the Feather-star is seated at the extremity 

 of a long slender jointed stalk, attached at its lower 

 end, whence it rises erect, like a plant. Indeed the 

 whole animal, in this condition, with its cup-like base 

 and elegantly incurving arms, seated on its tall stem, 

 has so close a resemblance of outline to a flower, that 

 the fossil specimens, which are very numerous, and of 

 large size, are known as Lily-stones, and technically as 

 Encrinites, which word has the same allusion. After a 

 while, the radiating portion, or flower, separates from 

 the stalk, and swims freely, contracting its arms to give 

 the impulse, in the manner of a Medusa. 



Who, on looking at these two creatures side by side, 



