THE EYED GRIBELLA. 551 



The common Star-fish of our American beaches is familiar enough, though as yet, like 

 many another sea form, not understood. Though so diverse in shape, the Star-fish, Echinus, 

 or Sea-chestnut, and the Holothurias, are closely allied as Echinoderms — spine-skinned 

 animals. 



Species like the Sun-star {Solaster) have been found, sparingly, by adhering to lines of 

 fishermen on the fishing banks. 



We now proceed to the examination of some of the more conspicuous species of 

 Asteriadse. 



The common Five Fingers, or Cross-fish, needs no more description than lias already 

 been given. 



A pretty little species, called Gibbous Starlet, is notable for the manner in which the 

 rays are connected by a membrane as far as their tips. Another species is the Knotty- 

 cushion Star, so called on account of the thick rounded rays. 



In the next examples we have several other curious forms of Star-fishes. The Bird' s- 

 foot Sea-star derives its name from its singular shape, which is not at all unlike that of 

 a duck's foot, with its spread toes and connecting membrane. This beautiful species is very 

 thin of texture, and has a pentagonal form, caused by the five rays and the connecting 

 membrane. If the surface of this Star-fish be examined witli a good magnifier, it will be 

 found to be covered with tufts of very tiny spines arranged in a regular series, and forming a 

 kind of pattern. 



The colors of the Bird's-i'oot Star are positively splendid. Each ray is marked with a 

 double line of bright scarlet, a narrow belt of the same color edges the connecting membrane, 

 and the centre is also scarlet. The ground color is light yellow, and the contrast of these two 

 beautiful colors has a remarkably splendid effect. This species is seldom seen in the shallow 

 waters or above low-water mark, and is. as a general rule, taken with the dredge. 



A boldly-rayed species, which looks something like the front view of a sunflower, is very 

 common, and goes popularly by the appropriate name of Sun-star. It often attains to 

 considerable, dimensions, and is always a very conspicuous object from the glaring colors with 

 which its surface is decorated, and the large amount of surface on which they can lie 

 displayed. The upper surface of this fine species is bright vermilion, and as it sometimes is 

 eight or nine inches in diameter, it is a very brilliant object as it lies upon the rocks. 



Should any reader be desirous of preserving this or any other of the Star-fishes for a 

 cabinet, he may do so without difficulty, by taking a few precautions. The first process is to 

 wash the Star-fish in plenty of fresh water, and it will be better to follow up this step by 

 removing the whole of the stomach and its appendages. This may be done from the under 

 surface of the rays ; and it will, perhaps, be useful if a little cotton wool be judiciously 

 inserted, so as to prevent the skin from collapsing during the process of drying. Star-fishes 

 may be easily dried, either before the fire or in the sun, but in either case they must be care- 

 fully washed in fresh water; and if a fire be employed, as must be the case in wet or dull 

 weather, the board on which the Star-fish is should not be placed very near the tire, and 

 should be occasionally watched, so that any tendency to warping may he corrected. 



In the Eyed Cribella, the eyes are rather blunt at their extremities, and are cleft nearly 

 to the centre, so that there is no definite disc. This species is rather stiffer to the touch than 

 the others. It must, however, be remarked that the consistency of the Star-fishes is 

 extremely variable, even in the same species or the same individual. If, for example, a 

 specimen of the common cross-fish be taken from the pool of water in which it is lying, a 

 practised hand will at once know whether it is dead or alive. In the former case the creature 

 is soft and flabby to the touch, yields readily to the impress of the fingers, and hangs down 

 heavily like a mass of wet rag. If, on the contrary, any life should be left in the creature, the 

 rays are tolerably firm and resisting to the touch, and when held by one ray it has altogether 

 a firmer and more lively feeling about it. A simple but effectual mode of ascertaining 

 whether a Star-fish be alive or dead, is to turn it on its back in some sea-water. If it be dead 

 there will, of course, be no movement, but if the least particle of life be still latent in that 



