THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Octobeb 2, 1860. 
one-eiglith to tlie one-thirty-second part of an inch in diameter, 
and of about the same height. It is chiefly, when quite fresh, of 
i a bright red or scarlet colour; but on keeping, the colour 
] deteriorates into a faint and dirty brownish yellow. The Knotty 
: Cushion Star has been said to be exclusively confined to the 
1 northern coasts ; but this is manifestly an error, since it has 
: been found on the coast of Cornwall. 
ASTEEtl.E, 
The fourth group of the Asteriadse. 
The Butthoen (Asterias aurantiaca ).—The genus Asterias, 
as being more regular in its shape than any other Star Fish, is 
in consequence, one of the most elegant of the tribe. Britain 
presents but one native specimen—the Butthorn. It has five 
equal lance-shaped arms with straight sides ; these sides are 
bordered transversely with oblong plates. The disc is very broad, 
and the whole surface, disc and arms, within the border-plates, 
is covered with tubercles bearing groups of small spines, so 
closely packed as to give it a very compact appearance. These 
tubercles are irregularly placed in the centre of the arms and 
disc, but on the sides they present a more orderly arrangement. | 
The disc has a prominent centre. The plates on the margins of 
the arms are also prominent and rounded. The rays are fringed 
t>y a border of numerous, long, lance-shaped, flattened spines ; j 
and on the under surface, between these and the long spines 
which border the avenues, is a broad space covered with thickly- 
set, transverse plates, each crowned with seven or eight oblique 
rows of short, flat, club-shaped spines. This species usually has 
a diameter of from three to five inches, although it occasionally 
will measure six. Each of its five rays is turned up at the ex- 
I tremity, and presents a circular tuft of blunt spines, forming the 
eyelid. The Butthorn varies considerably in the form of its 
rays, in the number of their marginal plates, and in the presence 
j or absence of the spines upon them; and this variation has 
I been the means of leading zoologists to the creation of spurious 
species. It varies also in colour : sometimes it is of a hrick-red 
above, and sometimes of a yellow or a light pink, with purple 
tips to the rays ; occasionally the whole of the upper surface will 
be covered with a glutinous, adhesive substance; but this is by 
no means usually the case. The Butthorn is very generally dis¬ 
tributed. On the southern coast of England it is very common. 
It is found abundantly at Teignmouth, and again in the north 
at Scarborough, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and on the Scotch coasts. 
It occurs also in Orkney and Shetland, and off 1 the coasts of 
Down and Antrim in Ireland. It is mostly found in deep water ; 
it being a rare occurrence to meet with a specimen on the shore, 
although the violence of the waves may occasionally cast one 
there. The Scarborough fishermen observe a singular super¬ 
stitious custom with respect to this creature, which is given by 
Professor Forbes, on the authority of Mr. Bean, in these words : 
—“They call this species the Butthorn. The first taken is 
carefully made a prisoner, and placed on a seat at the stern of 
the boat. When they hook a But (Holibut), they immediately 
give the poor Star Fish its liberty, and commit it to its native 
element; but if their fishery is unsuccessful it is left to perish, 
and may eventually enrich the cabinet of some industrious 
collector.” 
The Lingtkoen (Luidia fragilissima ).—This is the largest of 
all the British Star Fishes, and perhaps the most remarkable. 
It is distributed all over the coasts of Britain. When full 
grown this creature will measure two feet in diameter, and would 
seem, from fragments found occasionally, to exceed that size. 
The number of its rays varies from five to seven; they are quite 
flat, and are usually about five times as long as the disc is broad. 
In most specimens they taper gradually to a point, although in 
those found on the eastern coast they are rather broader towards 
the middle. The upper surface both of rays and disc is covered 
with tubercles, each having a diverging circle of from six to 
eight spines. The margins of the rays are bordered with rows 
of long rounded spines placed on regular transverse ridges, the 
uppermost ones being the thickest. The eyes are placed at the 
extremities of the rays in the centre of a ring of spines. It is of 
a brick-red colour above, varying in intensity: the under surface 
and the lateral spines are of a straw colour. This species is by 
no means constant in the number and proportion of its rays; 
they are, however, always either five or seven—no instance 
having occurred of a specimen being found with six or eight. 
The Lingthorn approximates closely in one peculiarity with the 
Serpent’s-tails—namely, in the strange power it possesses of 
casting off its arms or breaking them into pieces. The incident 
of the bucket, quoted from Professor Forbes in a previous 
chapter, had reference to one of this species. 
When young the Lingthorn is not nearly so brittle as those 
fully grown, and the five-armed variety seems less so than the 
seven-armed. It has the power, in common with other Star 
Fishes, of reproducing its members. The species is peculiar to 
Britain, and may be found in Berwick Bay, off the coast of 
Orkney, and on the northern shores generally. It is met with 
at Scarborough, although not common there. In Ireland it is 
only found on the south-west coast, and always with seven rays ; 
off the Isle of Man also, always with seven arms. It is some¬ 
times caught in the Irish Sea with only five arms. 
This creature completes the Asteriadse. We next proceed to 
Echinidse—Sea Urchins or Sea Hedgehogs.—W. 
(To be continued.) 
