THE EUROPEAN SEAS. 



151 



With us, the common "egg-urchin" affords the poor 

 a somewhat stinted luxury ; but in the Lusitanian 

 area, and throughout the Mediterranean, its greater 

 size, as also that of its allies, Echinus melo and E. 

 sardicus, renders them, when " in egg," important 

 articles of food. In Sicily they are in season about 

 the full moon of March, there the E. esculentus is 

 still called the " King of Urchins," whilst the larger 

 Melon Urchin is popularly considered to be its 

 mother ; hence its name Echinometra, of the old 

 naturalists. The size and abundance of these edible 

 species is one of the striking peculiarities of the 

 fish-markets of the Mediterranean seaboard. 



Amongst the star-fishes of the Canaries, or of the 

 south Lusitanian zone, are Stellonia tenuispina, Ophi- 

 diaster ophidianus, with its long, snake-like arms, 0. 

 granifer, and the large Brissus ventricosus ; these 

 all pass into the Mediterranean, as does also the 

 Cidaris imperialis. This form occurs also in the 

 Red Sea ; but as a safeguard against any false infe- 

 rences from such a fact, Astropyga has its north- 

 ern limit about the Canaries, ranging thence down 

 the African coast, and extending into the Red Sea 

 in virtue of having a corresponding zone on the 

 eastern side of the great African continent. 



Echinus lividus is abundant in the Eastern Medi- 

 terranean, adhering to rocks a little below the 

 water-mark. E. esculentus is found more sparingly 

 and rather deeper, but the Echinidce are not largely 

 represented here. The Echinus monilis, an Atlantic 



