THE BUTT-THOEN'. 335 



disk is red, and the rays white tipped with red. It grows to a 

 considerable size, having been found eleven inches broad. 



The Groniasters, or Cushion-stars, are distinguished from the 

 allied species by their pentagonal form. One of the most singular 

 of our native species is the Birdsfoot Sea-star (Palmipes membra- 

 naceus), being the thinnest and flattest of all its class. When 

 alive it is flexible, like a piece of leather, and a person who 

 had never seen it before would be apt to mistake it for the torn 

 off dorsal integument of some gibbous goniaster. The colour 

 is white, with a red centre and five red rays, proceeding one to 

 each angle. The whole upper surface is covered with tufts of 

 minute spines arranged in rows. 



The Asterise, with their stellate body and flat, rays, are very 

 different in aspect from the Groniasters. The Butt-thorn (Aste- 

 rias aurantiaca) owes its name to one of those strange super- 

 stitions which originate in some inexplicable manner, and are 

 handed down by one credulous generation to the next. " The 

 first taken by the fishermen at Scarborough is carefully made a 

 prisoner, and placed on a seat at the stern of the boat. When 

 they hook a butt (halibut) they immediately give the poor 

 star-fish its liberty and commit it to its native element ; but if 

 their fishery is unsuccessful it is left to perish, and may even- 

 tually enrich the cabinet of some industrious collector." 



To the family of the Asterise belongs also the Ling-thorn 

 {Luidia fragilissima), the largest, and one of the most interest-' 

 ing of our British species. When full grown, it measures two 

 feet across, and would appear to exceed that size occasionally, judg- 

 ing from fragments. The rays are from five to seven in number, 

 quite flat, and generally five times as long as the disk is broad. 

 The colour is brick-red above, varying in intensity, the under 

 surface being straw-coloured. The wonderful power which the 

 Luidia possesses, not merely of casting away its arms entire, but of 

 breaking them voluntarily into little pieces with great rapidity, 

 approximates it to the brittle-stars, and renders the preservation 

 of a perfect specimen a very difficult matter. 



" The first time I ever took one of these creatures," says 

 Edward Forbes, " I succeeded 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 move it for 



