118 OYSTER-EATING EXTRAORDINARY. 



capture of prey ; and, fixed to the shell of any luckless crab, hold 

 him with a firmness of grasp, against which his most violent 

 struggles are totally unavailing. Armed with these formidable 

 appendages, it is no wonder that the Star-fish acts the part of a 

 petty tyrant at the sea-bottom, and makes short work of what- 

 ever shell-fish or Crustacea come in its way. Much of its food, 

 indeed, is derived from animal matter which is already dead and 

 decaying ; but it is equally well pleased to kill its own game ; 

 and sometimes seizes upon a passing neighbour, which, despite all 

 its protestations and entreaties, is relentlessly held fast, the rays 

 of the tyrant bending in upon it meanwhile, pressing it nearer 

 and nearer to the fatal mouth, which, dilating for the purpose, 

 soon engulfs the hapless wretch, and irrevocably seals its doom. 



Amongst fishermen, the Star-fish has the reputation of being 

 extremely fond of oysters ; and it is said that, when it wishes to 

 indulge itself with one of these delicacies, it lies in wait till it 

 sees an oyster gaping, and then adroitly inserting one of its rays 

 between the open valves, literally eats the poor mollusc " out of 

 house and home." Now, there can be no doubt that the Star- 

 fish has a weakness, not merely for oysters, but for shell-fish in 

 general ; though it is equally certain that it does not adopt the 

 above impossible mode of gratifying its predilections. The truth 

 of the matter, however, is even more wonderful than the current 

 fiction. It seems that when inclined for an oyster supper, the 

 Star- fish clasps the mollusc in its arms, and by means, as it is 

 supposed, of some poisonous secretion, speedily reduces it to a 

 state of perfect helplessness, when the valves of the shell gape 

 wide apart. The gourmand now resorts to the very original and 

 ingenious expedient of pouting its stomach out of its mouth and 

 projecting it bodily into the open shell of the oyster, where the 

 digestive apparatus does its work quite as well as in its own 

 proper place. It is no uncommon circumstance to meet with the 

 Star-fish in the vciy act of performing this most extraordinary 

 gastronomic operation ; and occasionally three or four of the 

 animals may be found clustered together about some poor mollusc, 

 whose vitals they are unitedly sucking out, and with which they 

 form a sort of foot-ball, which the waves roll to and fro upon the 

 sand. 



The name of " Five-fingers," by which the common Star -fish is 

 known, sufficiently indicates that five is the normal number of 



