134 



BRITTLE-STAR. 



Occasionally near low water-mark may be 

 found specimens of a very curious star-fish, 

 differing as entirely from the sun-star, as it does 

 from the five-finger. This is the Brittle-star, 

 of which there are several British species: the 

 commonest of them, Ophiocoma rosula, is given 

 on plate l, fig. 3, and, as will be seen, is a very 

 curious creature ; its form has been well described 

 by the image of a little sea-urchin, surrounded by 

 five very lively centipedes. Indeed, it hardly 

 resembles the sun-star at all ; but these creatures 

 assume such singular shapes, that forms the most 

 dissimilar are found actually to be closely united ; 

 this we shall see presently when we come to the 

 urchin. The Ophiocoma is called the brittle-star 

 on account of its inexplicable custom of breaking 

 itself into little bits when alarmed. It is really 

 a matter of some little difficulty to secure an 

 entire specimen, so that a really perfect brittle- 

 star is rather a valuable acquisition, though the 

 creatures are so common that a dredge will haul 

 them up by pailfuls. One of the largest British 

 species of star-fish, Luidia fragilissirna, a creature 

 measuring some two feet across, possesses this 

 suicidal property in a high degree. In Forbes's 

 British Star-fish, a work which I strongly advise 

 all naturalists to obtain, or at least to read, is a 



