628 
EADIATA. 
plish. this object by inserting a sucker between tbe valves. Occasionally, it is said, one of these 
thieves has his iingcr caught in the shell, in which case he snaps it off, preferring this sacrifice 
to remaining in captivity. These creatures, like the brittle-stars, can reproduce their limbs 
which happen to be broken off. In England these animals have the various names of Cross- 
Fish, Five-Fingers, DeviVs Fingers, DcviVs Hands, &c. 
Forbes describes several species of Asteridse on the British coasts. Among them are the Spiny 
Cross-Fish, Uraster glacialis, its expanded rays measuring twenty inches: the Common Cross- 
Fish, U. ruhens, its rays measuring from nine to twelve inches : the Yiolet Cross-Fish, U' 
violacea: the Eosy Cribella, Crihella rosea: the Eyed Cribella or Five-eingered Jack, C. 
oculata : the Bird's Foot Sea-Star, Palmipes memhranaceus : the Knotty Cushion-Star, Goni- 
aster equestris : the Butthorn, Asterias aurantiaca : and the Lingthorn, Luidia fragillissijna. The 
latter appears not only to have the power of casting away its arms entire, but of breaking them 
voluntarily into little pieces. Forbes gives an amusing description of one which he caught in a 
dredge, " Cautiously and anxiously," he says, " I sank my bucket to a level with the dredge's 
mouth, and proceeded in the most gentle 
mannerto introduce Luidia to the purer ele- 
ment. Whether the cold air was too much 
for him, or the sight of the bucket too ter- 
rific, I know not, but in a moment he pro- 
ceeded to dissolve his corporation, and at 
every mesh of the dredge his fragments 
were seen escaping. In despair I grasped 
at the largest, and brought up the extremity 
of an arm with its terminating eye, the 
spinous eyelid of which opened and closed 
with something exceedingly like a smile of 
derision," 
Some of the Sun-Stars are very beauti- 
ful species ; the Purple Sun-Star, Solaster 
endeca, has eight rays, and the Common 
Sun-Star, *S'. loapposa, twelve or thirteen. 
The colors in this are variable but bril- 
liant — red, purple, green, and white. It 
measures from nine to twelve inches across, 
and feeds ravenously on shell-fish. These 
are British species; it is said we have similar ones on our northeastern coasts. 
ORDER 4. CRINOIDEA. 
The Crinoidea, or Sea-Lilies — so called from the resemblance which many of them present to 
flowers — were exceedingly abundant in former ages of the world; and their remains often form 
the great balk of large masses of rock ; at the present day they are comparatively rare. They 
are divided into several families, 
THE ENCRINIDiE. 
The family Fncrinidce includes an immense number of fossil forms; and one or two are still to 
be found in the West Indian seas. These animals were all supported upon a long stalk, at the 
extremity of which they floated in the waters of the ancient seas, spreading their arms in every 
direction in search of the small animals which constituted their food. Each of these arms, again, 
was feathered with a double series of similarly-jointed appendages ; so that the number of cal- 
careous pieces forming the skeleton of one of these animals was most enormous. It has been 
calculated that one species, the Pentacrinus Briareus, must have been composed of at least one 
hundred and fifty thousand joints ; and, " as each joint," according to Dr. Carpenter, " was fur- 
