224 SEPTEMBER. 



conspicuous things, and now turn the whole contents 

 bodily on this old shutter, which we have laid across 

 two thwarts. Tis done ; and now heave the dredge over 

 again, and we are free to work at the mass with all our 

 eyes and fingers. 



The first thing that strikes attention from its size and 

 brilliant colours is a great Sun-star. 1 This is a noble 

 example of the Star- fish family, not uncommon off 

 these shores. The disk of this specimen is two inches 

 and a half wide, and the rays, which are here eleven in 

 number (more commonly twelve^ are one and three- 

 fourths long, so that the total diameter of this fine 

 creature is six inches. The upper surface is convex 

 and cake-like, but can be plumped up at pleasure. 

 Both disk and rays are studded with small whitish 

 knobs, which seem simple to the eye, but when mag- 

 nified are seen to be formed of short and close-set 

 spines. They are not regularly arranged on the rays 

 any more than on the disk. Slightly elevated ridges 

 connect the knobs, thus covering the whole surface with 

 a raised network. 



The general colour of the disk is a fine rose-pink, 

 deeper on a circular area in the centre ; the network is 

 a deeper rose, especially just around the bases of the 



1 Solaster papposa, represented, about one-third of the natural size, by 

 the right-hand figure ou Plate XXV. 



