STAK-FJSHES AND SEA-UKCJUNS. 49 



CHAPTER IV. 



STAR -FISHES AND SKA-URCHINS. 



WE will begin with an old friend of yours, the 

 five-armed Star-Fish that you have often collected on 

 the beaches. There is no trouble in finding these 

 Star-Fishes ; there is scarcely a puddle or sea-weedy 

 rock along any part of the Nahant shore where they 

 are not to be seen in numbers ; and if you ever 

 have an opportunity of rowing in a boat around Egg 

 Rock at low tide, you may count them by hun- 

 dreds, especially at the side of the rock farthest from 

 Nahant, where there is a very populous Star- Fish settle- 

 ment. But, though you are so familiar with their gen- 

 eral appearance, I doubt whether you know mv.' li of 

 their habits of life, or of the way in which they are 

 made. You know that they move about, but you 

 do not know what organs they have to serve them aa 

 legs ; you know, if you have ever watched them when 

 alive, that their lower side is covered with all sorts of 

 appendages, seeming to be in active motion, but you 

 do not know what office these appendages have to per 

 form ; you take it for granted that they eat, but you do 

 not know where their mouth is, and I think you could 

 not tell me whether they have any eyes or not. Let us 

 see what is the meaning of these different parts ; and 



