THE HORSESHOE CRAB 



caught and throw them overboard, not real- 

 izing that an arm with a portion of the body 

 attached will, by pushing out new arms, be- 

 come a new individual. Thus they increased 

 rather than diminished their enemies. It is 

 common to find individuals with one or more 

 baby arms just appearing to take the place 

 of those lost by accident. 



If one takes the trouble to examine the 

 great devil's aprons that are thrown up on 

 the beach after a storm, he will find among 

 the powerful root-like extensions from the 

 stem, which are fastened tightly to a mussel 

 or stone, a veritable museum of lowly marine 

 life. Among these are not infrequently to be 

 seen some odd-looking starfishes with distinct 

 disk-like bodies and spider-like arms which 

 break easily on handling. These are the so- 

 called " brittle-stars," and if they are unin- 

 jured by their shipwreck, they will wriggle 

 about actively and actually break off one or 

 two of their legs in their desire to escape. 

 It would almost seem as if they were inspired 

 with the same object that leads lizards to shed 

 their tails in order to distract their pursuers 

 from the real thing. 



As the tide ebbs one often finds on the sand 

 261 



