PERILS OF THE OYSTER. 225 



fish.' This is the creature which we pick up so frequently 

 on the sea-shore, and which then looks so excessively 

 stupid and harmless that it is difficult to imagine that it is 

 a dire enemy to the oyster proprietor. Five-fingers have a 

 power of locomotion, and they will come suddenly, from 

 no one knows where, and, settling down upon the oyster- 

 beds, devour them all, save the shells just as a flock of 

 wood-pigeons will settle in a body on a field where their 

 food exists, or lady-birds will pitch in swarms on the 

 hops, and eat up all the green insects (aphides) which they 

 find upon the plants. I know at this moment (May 5, 

 1866), where an oyster-bed is situated on the north side of 

 the Thames, and when the happy owner goes to look at 

 his property, he will find nothing but tons of five-fingers 

 and ' clocks,' or empty oyster-shells, but no oysters for the 

 market." 



It was for a long time a question amongst naturalists 

 how so comparatively powerless a creature as a star-fish 

 can destroy an oyster, which he certainly cannot swallow. 



Before answering that question I must ask the reader's 

 indulgence for my digression in giving a brief description 



I 



of the creature mentioned. The name star-fish, though 

 often applied, is erroneous : it should be sea-star, or 

 asteria ; and, as I have already shown, it attracted atten- 

 tion from the earliest times. Aristotle and Pliny named 

 them stella marina, from their resemblance to the pictured 

 form of the stars of heaven. The ancient naturalists 

 asserted that sea-stars were so hot that they could consume 

 all they touched ; and Aldrovandus and Albertus declared 

 that whatever they were brought in contact with they 

 cooked; but, as usual, they advanced no proof. Others 

 have affirmed that the sea-stars sting and blister the fingers 

 when touched : a notion which probably led to their receiv- 



H 



