1885.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 71 



ing man himself, the worst enemy of the oyster is the five- 

 finger, or sea-star, Asterias arenicola. A sea-star is an object 

 with five rays, and is of the consistence of soft leather. If we 

 turn it over we observe a canal along each ray, or finger, through 

 its entire length. On each side of this canal is a row of am- 

 bulacra, or little feet, each with a sucking disc at its extremity. 

 At the centre, or base, of the rays is the oral cavity, in which is 

 the stomach sack, which is capable of being everted and pro- 

 truded. It is a blind sack, but its walls will, by osmosis, take up 

 food. With these five rays, and their thousands of little 

 suckers, it will grasp an oyster ; and, waiting until the mollusk 

 opens, be it never so little, it will thrust in its everted stomach, 

 and suck out the oyster's life. I have not demonstrated the 

 point, but my belief is that the sea-star has some urticating 

 power, and even paralyzes its victim. To the oyster-raiser, the 

 star is often a calamity. Many thousands of bushels are some- 

 times taken by it in a season from the beds. Other enemies 

 there are, but time is wanted to speak of them. 



I must say a word on the pearl. Though not the pearl oyster, 

 our mollusk is a pearl maker. Nacre, or mother of pearl, con- 

 stitutes, to a greater or less extent, the shells of all oysters. 

 But the isolated individual pearl, that which is accounted a 

 gem, and the worthy decoration of a bride, is always an en- 

 forced product. It is made upon occasion of inconvenience, 

 suffering, or disease. It was a pretty coincidence this morning, 

 that, having just finished thinking out the brief for this address, 

 I looked into Shakespeare, and alighted on that expression of 

 Touchstone : " Rich honesty dwells like a miser in a poor- 

 house, as your pearl in your foul oyster." It is surely interest- 

 ing that this wisdom of the poet, drawn from the proverbial 

 lore of the people, finds its verification in science. The pearl is 

 the outcome of suffering. It is elaborated in distress. So deli- 

 cate, so mild, so exquisite. It is already perfect — the one only 

 gem that does not ask the lapidary's skill. And how many a pre- 

 cious thought, having passed through the alembic of suffering, has 

 crystallized into a living form, a thought-pearl of purity, 

 etherial and immaculate ! 



And now, my friends, if our discourse has enabled us to 

 know better one of God's lowly little creatures, we have done 

 well, since it will help us to love the creator more. 



