266 MARINE ZOOLOGY OF ARRAN. 



Experience has since shewn that the means by which either 

 Luidia or Uraster glacialis can be secured for cabinet speci- 

 mens is, not to destroy them violently by plunging them into 

 fresh water, but to let them die by a more quiet process 

 viz., by leaving them in a vessel of sea water until life is 

 exhausted. Under these circumstances, they are not prone 

 to break, and thereby disappoint their captors.* Luidia will 

 be recognized by its light orange or buff colour; its rays are 

 smooth on the back, and provided with spines on their mar- 

 gins ; specimens measuring a foot may be picked up on the 

 shore in Lamlash Bay, and individuals of twice that size are 

 procurable by the dredge, or may sometimes be hooked up in 

 shallower water with a common rake. There is another 

 singular creature of great interest to the naturalist it is 

 Comatula rosacea, or the rosy-feathered star-fish a beautiful 

 and elegant example of the radiated form of animated beings. 

 It is found abundantly in Lamlash Bay, near the pier on 

 Holy Island, and in other parts of the locality; but the 

 dredge is required, as this species inhabits deep water that 

 is, depths of about ten fathoms. At some seasons almost any 

 number may be obtained. They are brought up attached to 

 the large sea-weed, Laminaria saccfiarina, from which they 

 must be removed with care, as they are exceedingly brittle, 

 and, like the Luidice, can break themselves into fragments 

 with astonishing and unpleasant speed. The best way, per- 

 haps, to prepare dry specimens for the cabinet is to treat 

 them as the marine botanist treats the more delicate algse 

 spread them on drawing paper, place over them a piece of 

 smooth linen, and let them dry between folds of blotting 

 paper, under slight pressure; but, in the first instance, they 

 must be allowed quietly to die in sea water, or more rapidly 

 in a solution of alum for, if immersed in pure fresh water, 

 they will lose their beauty, by the removal of their colouring 

 matter. In order to appreciate the exquisite form and ele- 



* Dr. Carpenter has found that, by placing Lvidia in a pan of 

 Glyc'-rine, the creature dies at once, and without disfiguring itself. 



