THE ANIMAL COMMUNITY 3 



After a period of such divided effort, one set of 

 arms wins out and the animal is turned in their 

 direction. 



Even more disastrous for the animal involved, 

 are the numerous cases where parts of the animal 

 are literally torn from the body because they are 

 not acting in harmony with stronger regions of 

 the individual. The trail of starfishes can be 

 traced over the sides of aquaria by the foot frag- 

 ments they have left behind, torn off because these 

 feet were pulling in the wrong way. Such frag- 

 ments of starfishes die although the animals them- 

 selves grow new feet to replace the old. 



The sea-anemone, an animal which may reach a 

 diameter of more than three inches and is fre- 

 quently taller than it is thick, has a mouth sur- 

 rounded by food-catching tentacles at one end and 

 a broadly expanded foot for movement and attach- 

 ment at the other. When such an animal is 

 crawling over a glass plate or a smooth rock, 

 parts of the foot may be torn off and left behind 

 because they are unable to let go of the smooth 

 surface soon enough to keep up with the rest of 

 the animal. Such fragments round up and within 

 a short time may grow into whole, new, small 

 anemones. Meantime the holes from which they 

 were torn have also healed. The most composed 

 city -dwelling man would be amazed if in walking 



