BIRD VFOOT SEA-STAR. 285 



filled up, so as to resemble the webbed foot of a 

 bird, hence the popular title of this solitary species, 

 ' The Bird's-foot Sea-star/ It is the flattest of aU 

 its class, and when alive it is flexible like a piece of 

 leather/ Passing by the ' Cushion-stars ' (which 

 have five angles it seems a misnomer to call them 

 rays), which connect the true Star-fishes with the 

 Sea-Urchins, we come lastly to the ' Lingthorn/ 

 Luidia fragillisima, with its seven rays. This is 

 the animal of which Professor Forbes discourses so 

 pleasantly about its winking derisively at his despair- 

 ing endeavours to preserve even a small portion of 

 what at that time was his maiden specimen. The 

 Luidia is even more brittle more regardless of its 

 wholeness, than the Ophiurce, which renders the 

 capture of a perfect specimen a most difficult task. 



