Mr Kobert Brown on Astrophyton scutatum. 371 



narrow inlet of the Island of Disco (lat. 68° 58' 42" N., long. 

 53° 13' W-), appears to be a very likely place for it. It is 

 almost opposite Cape Kater where I got it, and where it 

 appears to be pretty abundant ; for broken pieces occasion- 

 ally came up on the whale-lines afterwards. 



A curious idea seems to have prevailed in Bishop Erick 

 Pontopiddan's day regarding this animal. After mention- 

 ing in his excellent " Natural History of Norway," part ii. 

 pp. 179-80 (Lond. 1755, English trans.), that it is rarely got 

 on the Norwegian coast, and is called Soe-Navle by the Nor- 

 wegians, and Soe-Soel or Sea Sun by the Dutch sailors, who 

 frequently find it in the West Indies, according to Geo. 

 Marcgrave's account, in his " Historia Naturalis Braziliae," 

 lib. iv. cap. xxii., he states, in all good faith, the following 

 extraordinary notion, though, with a lack of credulity he has 

 hardly been given credit for, repudiating it : — " This strange 

 and wonderful fish or korstrold is said to be only the young, or 

 perhaps only the germ, of the roe of that great and frightful 

 monster, which is here called Kraake [Kraken Anglice], But 

 as far as I could get information from several fishermen, who 

 all agree in their accounts, this cannot possibly be true." 



Though a rare animal, this " Korstrold," from its bizarre 

 form, seems to have attracted the attention of all the " enge- 

 nuous" naturalists of an early date, as well as more modern, 

 and to have received (after a fashion not peculiar to our 

 time) a variety of names, — viz., Sternfisch, J. C. Adelung, 

 Geschicte, &c, p. 381, tab. xvii. fig. (1768) ; " Stella ma- 

 rina I. Ionstoni, Insect, tab. xxiv. fig. 11" {fide Fab.) ; 

 Stella arborescens (Eondoletius and Gesner) ; Asterias caput 

 medusa} (Linnseus, Miiller, &c.) ; Asterias arborescens (Pen- 

 nant) ; Euryale verucossum (Lamarck) ; Euryale scutatum 

 (Blainville), &c. 



Most of the early authors give distinguishable figures of 

 it. That of Pontopiddan is the best. Among modern, that 

 of Professor E. Forbes is the only good portrait of it, but, 

 from its want of colouring, his figure does not do full justice 

 to the varied hues of the starfish. The coloured figures in 

 Griffith's beautiful edition of Cuvier s Regne Animal, as also 

 in the "Crochard Edition" of same work, are mere pictures. 



