THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 169 



their numbers, that they were thrown up on the shore in large, loath- 

 some, squirming balls. Says Verrill, " In one instance within a few 

 years, at Westport, Connecticut, they destroyed about 2,000 bushels 

 of oysters, occupying beds about twenty acres in extent, in a few 

 weeks, during the absence of the proprietor." 



It is curious to read the silly stories that are told in the name of 

 Natural History. There is one that says that the star-fish puts its 

 fingers or rays into the oyster's shell, and helps itself. From every 

 point of consideration the thing is ridiculously impossible. A more 

 sober judgment is that given by some naturalists, namely, that the 

 sea-star protrudes its great sac-like stomach, and envelops to a great 

 extent the oyster therein, and so leisurely digests the mollusk out of 

 its unopened shell, much as a codfish does the shells it swallows. 



Fig. 7. Tubicola. a, Serpula contortuplicata ; b, Spirorbis communis. 



After having seen young star-fishes eat small specimens (that is, such 

 as were suited to their size) of oysters, mussels, and scollops, which 

 I have fed to them in an aquarium, I give the following as based on a 

 number of observations : Having brought the oval, or stomach orifice, 

 exactly opposite the nib of the oyster, the star embraces the bivalve 

 with its five flexible rays, aided by the hundreds of sucking-disks on 

 the tiny feet. Thus positioned, the star-fish clings firmly, but keeps 

 itself quite still, and waits very patiently. After a while, the instinct 

 of the oyster will be at fault, and it w T ill open, as if no enemy were 

 near. At this moment, as it seems to me, is injected from the oral 

 orifice of the star a baleful " sidereal blast." It is a something that 

 paralyzes the mollusk ; because, from that moment the valves of the 

 oyster are opened to their full extent, and the hold of the flexible rays 

 is relaxed. Instantly a singular variation of the performance sets in. 

 The rays are withdrawn and set back to back the stomach is pro- 

 truded, and the doubled-up star intrudes itself into the oyster, the 

 evicted stomach leading the way in the movement, and absorbing its 

 victim. If the famous " India-rubber man " could throw backward 

 his arms, legs, and head, and in this position could then infuse him- 



