26 OCEAN LIFE. 



even leaving out of the question the means by which each indi- 

 vidual sucker is wielded ; but let any of our readers, when oppor- 

 tunity offers, pick up from the beach any of these animals, the 

 common star-fish of our coast, which, as it lies upon the sand left 

 by the retiring waves, appears so incapable of movement, so 

 utterly helpless and inanimate ; let him place it in a large glass 

 jar filled with its native element, and watch the admirable spec- 

 tacle which it then presents : Slowly he perceives its rays expand 

 to their full stretch * hundreds of feet are gradually protruded 

 through the ambulacral apertures, and each, apparently possessed 

 of independent action, fixes itself to the sides of the vessel as the 

 animal begins its march. The numerous suckers are soon all 

 employed, fixing and detaching themselves alternately, some 

 remaining firmly adherent, while others change their position ; 

 and thus, by an equable gliding movement, the star-fish climbs 

 the sides of the glass in which it is confined, or the perpendicular 

 surface of the submarine rock. But it is not only as agents in 

 locomotion that the ambulacral suckers are used ; helpless as 

 these creatures appear to be, they are among the most formidable 

 tyrants of the deep, as will be readily admitted by any one who 

 watches them in the act of devouring prey. When seizing its 

 food, the rays of the Asterias are bent towards the ventral aspect, 

 so as to form a kind of cup, in the centre of which is the opening 

 of the mouth; the cup thus formed will, to a certain extent, lay 

 hold of a passing victim ; but, without other means of securing 

 it, the grasp would scarcely be very formidable to animals pos- 

 sessed of any strength ; armed, however, as the rays have been 

 found to be, with hundreds of tenaceous suckers, escape is almost 

 impossible, for prey once seized is secured by every part of its 

 surface, and, in spite of its utmost efforts, is speedily dragged 

 into the mouth, and engulphed in the capacious stomach, where 

 its soft parts are soon dissolved. 



" On examining a living Asterias, the outer covering of its body 

 is found to be composed of a dense coriaceous substance, in which 

 numerous calcareous pieces are apparently imbedded. The cori- 

 aceous integument is generally colored externally with lively 

 tints, and is evidently possessed of considerable irritability, as it 

 readily shrinks under the knife, or upon the application of various 



