The Starfish abstains from Mockery, i 



37 



sacrifice of its arms is a life-saving stratagem, just as 

 a wolf caught in a gin will bite off its foot and limp 

 away on three legs rather than let itself be killed with 

 the full complement of four. But the more anxious 

 the starfish is to break itself up for its own selfish 

 purposes, the more is it a point of honour with the 

 collector to secure it uninjured. This Mr. Robertson 

 succeeded in doing at Cumbrae in 1858. As the 

 result of various captures then and afterwards he 

 found that in the summer months he could rarely 

 bring one of this species to the surface in the dredge 

 entire. Occasionally in those months they may be 

 found near to the shore in shallow water, and the 

 specimens so found can be dried unbroken, but they 

 are always thin, probably from being in a sickly 

 state. In the spring, however, he got them in good 

 full condition. At that period of the year a specimen 

 was brought up in the dredge in company with 

 several large sea-urchins that had strong sharp spines, 

 likely enough to irritate the starfish, but even under 

 these circumstances its temper was composed and 

 tranquil, for "it was placed in a little water in the 

 bottom of the boat, and lay there fully two hours, 

 then carried home exposed to the air, and finally 

 paid the last debt of nature, and still remained 

 whole." 



At times Mr. Robertson was willing to obtain 

 information from humbler guides than Harvey or 

 Forbes, or his friends Kennedy and the Grays. 



His diary for March 8, 1856, gives the following 

 record : 



"Day fine. Went over to the fireworks pond to 



