IMPORTANCE OF STAR-FISHES IN CREATION. 209 



grand ceconomy of Creation at once acknowledged. 

 Their appetite is for carrion. Their restless and un- 

 ceasing industry is constantly employed in hunting 

 out and swallowing all dead, all tainted matters that 

 approach the shore, which, if permitted to accumu- 

 late, would soon pollute the very ocean, and convert 

 the wave-washed beach into a charnel-house, defile 

 the air, and render earth itself an uninhabitable waste. 

 All silently and quietly the work is done by these 

 unwearying agents. Cleanliness and health attend 

 their gentle footsteps ; while, to crown the whole, each, 

 like a living granary, pours forth innumerable eggs, 

 and thus supplies abundant food for countless hungry 

 and expectant mouths, peopling the sea with life, and 

 adding to the already boundless store of Nature's 

 provender. 



The natural enemies of the Asterias are innume- 

 rable as the hungry maws of cod-fishes, and many 

 others of the larger and more rapacious tenants of the 

 deep abundantly testify ; nay, cannibal-like as the 

 aquariist will doubtless soon discover to his cost 

 certain races do not spare each other. 



Most species of Star-fish, if taken strong and vi- 

 gorous from the sea, are sufficiently hardy to be easily 

 preserved in the vivarium of the practical naturalist, 

 and with due precaution will survive a long time. 

 Several species feed copiously and grow rapidly, some 

 of them attaining dimensions which seem extraordi- 

 nary. They are very impatient of heat, whence it is 

 necessary to keep them in a cool place ; and frequent 

 renovation of the water is absolutely indispensable 

 during hot weather. 



