CHAP. XVI.] The Starfish. 285 
to publish his descriptions of the habits of animals, fishes, 
and crustaceans. 
One of Edward’s most delightful studies was that of the 
star-fish. He published an article on the subject in the 
Zoologist. His object in doing so, he said, was to induce 
others to employ their spare time in discovering the star- 
fishes found along the Banffshire coast, and to make them 
publicly known. “If this,” said he, “‘ were done generally 
throughout the country, we might, ere long, be able to form 
something like an adequate notion of what we really do 
possess; but until that be done, we can not expect to arrive 
at any thing like a perfect idea of what our British fauna 
consists of, or where the objects are to be found. Let nat- 
uralists, then, and observers of nature everywhere, look to 
and note this, that all who can may reap the benefit.” 
Edward was as enthusiastic about the star-fish as he was 
about any other form of animated being. He would allow 
none of them to be called “common.” They were all wor- 
thy of the most minute investigation, and also worthy of 
the deepest admiration. Of the daisy brittle stars ( Ophio- 
coma, bellis) he says: “They are the most beautiful of this 
beautiful tribe which I have ever seen. Their disks differ 
considerably from the star-fishes ordinarily met with, being 
of a pyramidal or conical form, sometimes resembling the 
well-known shell Zrochus tumidus. In color they are like 
the finest variegated polished mahogany ; their disks exhib- 
iting the most beautiful carved work. The rays are short 
in proportion to the size of the disk—strong, and closely 
beset with short, thick, hard spines. I may add that the 
specimens I allude to were procured from that heteroge- 
neous repository of marine objects, the stomach of a cod, 
which was taken about thirteen miles out at sea.’ 
Edward’s children also helped him to procure star-fishes. 
“‘T remember,” he says, ‘‘my young friend Maggie, and 
three of her sisters, once bringing me a large cargo of the 
granulated brittle star (Ophiocoma granulata)—nearly two 
