162 THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
many ample pages might be written and not ex¬ 
haust the subject, and here but a small space can 
be devoted to them. Most of those who have 
visited the shores have had glimpses of some 
members of this family, though generally the 
most common and least interesting, the brown 
five-rayed star-fish, to which special description 
need not be given. The near resemblance of 
some of these sea-beauties to the china-asters 
and lilies of the garden has won for them the 
names of sea-asters and stone-lilies^ and their 
beauty is such that it is no presumption to 
hold comparison with these favorite flowers. 
And this mention of floral resemblance 
leads to the notice of another family of the 
sea flora, the Actinice. Of these elegant objects 
the Arborescent and Alcyonoidce are perhaps most 
striking. Conceive of two richly-striped or 
mottled vases, out of which branch and bloom 
a multitude of living floral stalks, now ex¬ 
panded in full glory, and now, on the least 
disturbance, retracted and securely hidden in 
the elegant basal receptacle! 
“ But why longer continue this descriptive 
catalogue of the wonderful and beautiful in the 
gardens and palaces of the sea ? Visit the 
