fornia, the last mentioned locality being 

 one of the best. It is a large species, 

 frequently attaining a diameter from tip 

 to tip of the arms of sixteen inches. 

 When alive it is of a rich ochre color 

 or brown, and the surface is beautifully 

 reticulated by numerous club-shaped 

 spines arranged in rows. This species 

 is as much an enemy to the oysters of 

 the Pacific coast as is the common five- 

 finger to those of the Atlantic coast. 



Another common starfish of the coast 

 of California is the Vermilion Starfish, 

 which may be collected by thousands at 

 San Diego and Monterey. The body is 

 very broad and the rays short and wide. 

 It is in shape quite suggestive of the 

 foot of a pelican or duck. The upper 

 surface is beset with small, heavy spines, 

 which are arranged in little festoons on 

 the five rays. Its name is very appro- 

 priate, for it is of a rich vermilion color, 

 varying from this to rose, yellowish or 

 purple. 



A starfish of peculiar design and 

 startling aspect is the Armed Starfish 

 (Nidorella armata), which is an inhabi- 

 tant of the warm waters of the Isthmus 

 of Panama. It is like a star in form, 

 the rays being short and wide. The 

 edge is bordered by large, squarish plates 

 and the upper surface is marked by many 

 little holes, giving it the aspect of a fine 

 sieve. But the most peculiar ornamen- 

 tation and the character from which the 

 species derives its name is the row of 

 long, cornucopia-shaped spines which 

 extend along the center of each ray from 

 the tip to the center of each disk. Be- 

 sides this regular row of spines there 



are several projecting from the surface 

 of the starfish between the rays. Taken 

 as a whole, the dorsal surface is not un- 

 like a miniature African shield. 



During the past twenty years many 

 interesting and curious forms of star- 

 fishes have been dredged by the United 

 States Fish Commission Steamer Alba- 

 tross, in deep water, off the eastern 

 coast of America. Some of the species 

 were the common forms found along the 

 shore, such as the common five-finger 

 (Asterias vulgaris), which ranges from 

 low water to two hundred eight fath- 

 oms. But the majority were species new 

 to science, which were brought up from 

 a maximum depth of two thousand three 

 hundred sixty-nine fathoms, a depth of 

 about three miles. 



One can hardly realize the difficulties 

 attending the gathering of these animals 

 from such a depth. Let us imagine that 

 a dredge is dropped from the top of the 

 Masonic Temple, in Chicago, a height of 

 about two hundred and seventy feet, and 

 drawn along the street to catch such in- 

 sects, mollusks and other Hfe as might 

 be there. It . is manifest that only a 

 small percentage of the fauna would be 

 represented by such a method. The 

 depth mentioned is only forty-five 

 fathoms, and if there is difficulty in se- 

 curing a representative collection for this 

 moderate distance, what must be the al- 

 most insurmountable obstacles when that 

 distance is multiplied fifty times. With 

 all these difficulties, however, the ani- 

 mals of the abysses of the ocean are be- 

 ing colected and classified. 



Frank Collins Baker. 



