Five-Fingered Jack on the Oyster. 43 



and leave them to themselves, but gathers them to the maternal 

 fold with the same tender, patient solicitude as characterized 

 her first efforts. Confined to a tank, when with ova, the 

 mother Star has been known to traverse the entire length of 

 the vessel until she has found and recovered her scattered 

 treasures. 



Reproduction by eggs is not the only means of generation 

 in vogue. In common with other sea animals the Star-fish 

 has the strange capacity of detaching one or more of its arms, 

 each of the cast-off members becoming in time a perfect 

 creature of its own kind, while a new arm, fully equipped to 

 perform all necessary functions, will grow out in place of the 

 lost member. From twelve to fifteen weeks are required to 

 reproduce a lost ray, the animal meanwhile seeming not the 

 least discontented, but acting as utterly unconscious of any 

 changes in its anatomy. 



As found upon the shore, Star- fishes appear dead when 

 really they are alive. Put one of these perfectly still creat- 

 ures into fresh sea-water, and in a short time it will probably 

 be disporting itself as freely as ever it did. But as the dead 

 and the living, when stranded by the tide, present nearly the 

 same appearance, some certain test seems necessary to dis- 

 tinguish them apart. If a Star-fish hangs loose and limp, it 

 is dead ; but, however dead it may look, if on touching it 

 there are manifest a firmness and consistency in its substance, 

 one may feel reasonably sure that it is playing the 'possum 

 and will revive when placed in the water. Quite as certain 

 a mode of ascertaining whether your starry friend is living 

 or dead, is to lay it upon its back, when, if alive, a number 

 of semi-transparent globular objects will be seen to move, 

 reaching this way and that, as though feeling for some- 

 thing to lay hold of wherewith to restore it to its .normal 

 position. These globular appendages are the ambulacra, or 

 locomotory organs, seeking to acquire this end. If, however, 

 no movement is manifested, you can wisely conclude that 

 your animal is dead. 



