3306 Radiata. 



ally passing the harbour of Gardenston one morning last spring, I 

 found not fewer than a dozen specimens dangling from a fisherman's 

 line. Of these I secured the one half, which I have by me at present 

 in a dried state. Some of them had lost arms, and show substitutes 

 of tiny dimensions, a defect which I also observe in the reproduced 

 leg of a spinous crab in my possession. The brittle part of this fish 

 is just where the arm connects with the disk. Their general colour is 

 a bright red, though many are of a dull orange. 1 observe by Forbes's 

 1 British Star-fishes ' (p. 108) that this species was added to the Scot- 

 tish Fauna in 1839, and that only two British habitats are named, the 

 one on the Irish coast, the other off Ayrshire. Allow me also to add 

 that all my specimens exceed the size mentioned by the above autho- 

 rity, the largest being about one foot in diauieter, and the smallest 

 from eight to nine inches. 



Purple Sun-star, (Solaster endeca). In Mr. Forbes's article on this 

 species, under the heading " specific character," the rays are stated to 

 be "nine to eleven," and the same is repeated in the text (p. 110). Ac- 

 cording to my observation the general number is nine, but I have met 

 with examples, regularly formed, in which the number was eight, and 

 in one case, 1 think I counted as many as thirteen. 



The Common Sun-star, [Solaster papposa). We have many very 

 gorgeous examples of this species ; I must, however, make a remark 

 similar to that just made respecting the last-named species. Mr. 

 Forbes states the number of rays to be from twelve to fifteen (p. 112); 

 I frequently find them with not more than ten. A very fine specimen 

 before me measures almost a foot in diameter, which is nearly an inch 

 larger than the largest mentioned by Mr. F., and I am satisfied that I 

 have seen them considerably exceed that measurement. It is a sor- 

 rowful fact, that many, if not most, of the finer specimens of our na- 

 tive star-fishes never come under the eyes of competent observers at 

 all, it being a regular habit with the fishermen taking up monstrous 

 examples, to break them in pieces and cast them back again into the 

 sea, in order that they " may never be plagued with them again." 

 This doctrine I have been endeavouring to combat, and on obvious 

 grounds ; and by seeking to establish the conviction that the hitherto 

 approved method of destruction, practised with a view to extermina- 

 tion, is the only certain one to aggravate the hated abundance a hun- 

 dred-fold, have been trying to inculcate the propriety of landing all 

 such volunteers safely on the beach. But since revolutions in human 

 sentiment are not generally produced in a day, and as the fishers 

 are a body proverbially attached to the sayings and doings of their 



