STAR-FISHES AND SEA-URCHINS. 



force of their adhesion. To be sure, it is a slow and 

 clumsy way of moving ; but then the Star- Fish is rather 

 a dull fellow, and he is as well satisfied if he has 

 walked an inch or two in an hour as you would be if 

 you had walked a mile in half that time. These suck- 

 ers are placed along the centre of the lower side of each 

 ray, as I have told you, and on each side of the row of 

 suckers along the edge of every ray there are append- 

 ages of a different kind. These are stiff spines, the ob- 

 ject of which is not well understood, but perhaps they 

 serve as a protection to the animal. Here is a picture 

 of a single ray, showing the arrangement of suckers and 

 spines (No. 40). At the end of each ray 

 there is a little red speck which is an eye ; so 

 that, as they have five rays, they have also five 

 eyes, which I dare say will give you a great 

 respect for their powers of vision. But let 

 me tell you that five of their eyes are by no 

 means so good as one of yours ; and indeed, 

 though these red specks are essentially or- 

 gans of sight, it is very doubtful how much 

 they see with them. Perhaps they are only 

 receptive of light without discerning any ob- 

 jects ; for though we call them eyes, they 

 have no complicated structure, such as our 

 eyes have, by which every object is distinctly 

 drawn like a picture within them. Yet I 

 once heard a story of a Star- Fish which inclined me to 

 believe that, if they do not see, they have at least some 

 very keen perception of what goes on about them. 



Star- Fishes carry their eggs near the mouth, and 

 keep them safely by stretching their suckers around 



No 40. 



