This could hardly have been otherwise, for it was his habit, first to observe, and then to kill. He never had any mercenary object in view in wandering about with his gun and his traps; he only desired to obtain knowledge; and what he observed he told as plainly and clearly as he could, without knowing whether his observations had been printed before or not. He only regretted that he had so little time to publish his descriptions of the habits of animals, fishes, and crustaceans.
THE STAR-FISH.
One of Edward’s most delightful studies was that of the Star-fish. He published an article on the subject in the Zoologist. His object in doing so, he said, was to induce others to employ their spare time in discovering the Star-fishes found along the Banffshire coast, and to make them publicly known. “If this,” said he, “were done generally throughout the country, we might, ere long, be able to form something like an adequate notion of what we really do possess; but until that be done, we cannot expect to arrive at anything like a perfect idea of what our British Fauna consists of, or where the objects are to be found. Let Naturalists then, and observers of Nature everywhere, look to and note this, that all who can may reap the benefit.”
THE BRITTLE STARS.
Edward was as enthusiastic about the Star-fish as he was about any other form of animated being. He would allow none of them to be called “common.” They were all worthy of the most minute investigation; and also worthy of the deepest admiration. Of the Daisy Brittle Stars (Ophiocoma bellis) he says: “They are the most beautiful of this beautiful tribe which I have ever seen. Their disks differ considerably from the Star-fishes ordinarily met with, being of a pyramidal or conical form, sometimes resembling the well-known shell Trochus tumidus. In colour, they are like the finest variegated polished mahogany; their disks exhibiting the most beautiful carved work. The rays are short in proportion to the size of the disk—strong, and closely beset with short, thick, hard spines. I may add that the specimens I allude to, were procured from that heterogeneous repository of marine objects, the stomach of a cod, which was taken about thirteen miles out at sea.”
Edward’s children also helped him to procure Star-fishes. “I remember,” he says, “my young friend Maggie, and three of her sisters, once bringing me a large cargo of the Granulated Brittle Star (Ophiocoma granulata)—nearly two hundred of them, which they had gathered up where the fishermen clean their lines. I remember being particularly struck with the numerous and brilliant colours displayed by the cargo, exhibiting, as they did, all those tints—perhaps more than it is possible to name—from the brightest scarlet down to the deepest black, scarcely two being alike. Their disks, too, were remarkably varied; some were of a perfect oval, whilst others were pentangular; some were flat, whilst others were in a measure pyramidal, and what, in truth, may be termed triangular in form.”
THE NEW STAR-FISH.
Of all his daughters, Maggie seems to have been the most helpful. She went down to Gardenston to obtain the refuse from the fishermen’s lines, to collect fish, crustacea, and such like, and send them home to her father by the carrier. She sometimes accompanied him along the coast as far as Fraserburgh and Peterhead. One evening, while Edward was partaking of his evening meal, Maggie entered and accosted him joyfully—“Father, I’ve got a new Star-fish t’ ye, wi’ sax legs!” “I hope so, Maggie,” he answered, “but I doubt it.” After he had finished his supper, he said, “Now, Maggie, let’s see this prodigy of yours.” After looking at it, “Just as I thought, Maggie,” said he, “it’s not a new species—it’s only an Ophiocoma Ballii, but rather a peculiar one in its way, having, as you said, ‘sax legs’ instead of five.”
Of the Rosy-Feather Star (Comatula roseacea)—which Edward had long been searching for, and at last found—he says: “What a pretty creature! but how brittle! and oh, how beautiful! Does any one wonder, as I used to do, when he hears of a stone-lily or of a lily-star, as applied to this genus? Then let him get a sight of a Crenard-star, and sure I am that his surprise will give place to admiration. And how curious! It was once supposed to have been the ’most numerous of the ocean’s inhabitants,’ whereas now there are only about a dozen kinds to be found alive,—one only in the British seas, and that but rarely met with. Well, I am proud to be able to record its occurrence on the Banffshire coast. The specimen I allude to, was taken from the stomach of a cod.”
THE GREAT SEA-CUCUMBER.