183 



it at once from Uraster rubens by the spines situated on the back of 

 each ray. Care is needed in the preservation of this species, for it 

 has the knack of dislocating its arms under your most cautious 

 treatment. But the star-fish that has gained most notoriety from 

 the facility with which it can, apparently at pleasure, dismember 

 itself nay, break itself into any number of fragments and, vexa- 

 tiously enough, at the very moment when you think the animal is 

 deceased, and preserved uninjured, is Luidia fragillissima. The sub- 

 joined description is from the pen of the late Professor Edward. 

 Forbes : " The first time I ever took one of these creatures I suc- 

 ceeded in getting it into the boat entire. Never having seen 

 one before, and quite unconscious of its suicidal powers, I spread 

 it out on a rowing bench, the better to admire its form and colours. 

 On attempting to remove it for preservation, to my horror and dis- 

 appointment I found only an assemblage of rejected members. My 

 conservative endeavours were all neutralized by its destructive exer- 

 tions ; and it is now badly represented in my cabinet by an armless 

 disk and a diskless arm. Next time I went to dredge on the same 

 spot, determined not to be cheated out of a specimen in such a way 

 a second time, I brought with me a bucket of cold fresh water, to 

 which article star-fishes have a great antipathy. As I expected, a 

 Luidia came up in the dredge a most gorgeous specimen. As it 

 does not generally break up before it is raised above the surface of 

 the sea, cautiously and anxiously I sunk my bucket to a level with 

 the dredge's mouth, and proceeded in the most gentle manner to 

 introduce Luidia to the purer element. Whether the cold air was 

 too much for him, or the sight of the bucket too terrific, I know 

 not, but in a moment he proceeded to dissolve his corporation, and 

 at every mesh of the dredge his fragments were seen escaping. In 

 despair I grasped at the largest, and brought up the extremity of an 

 arm with its terminating eye, the spinous eyelid of which opened 

 and closed with something exceedingly like a wink of derision."* 



Experience has since shown that the means by which either Lui- 

 dia, or Uraster glacialis can be secured for cabinet specimens 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 ves- 

 sel of sea water until life is exhausted. Under these circumstances 

 they are not prone to break, and thereby disappoint their captors. t 

 Luidia will be recognized by its light orange or buff colour ; its rays 



* British Star-fishes, page 138. 



f Dr. Carpenter has found that, by placing Luidia in a pan of Glycerine, the crea- 

 tur3 dies at once, and without disfiguring itself. 



