SEA STARS OR STARFISHES. 47 



" Five-finger," which is so plentiful on our shores. (See 

 Fig. 1.) Viewed upon the upper surface, it appears as 

 helpless a being as can well be imagined. It is absolutely 

 incapable of resistance or even of struggle to escape. 

 It has no stinging threads like those of the jelly-fishes, 

 and permits itself to be torn or crushed without seeming 

 to know that it is hurt. 



Viewed from the under surface, however, it presents 

 a different aspect. (See Fig. 2.) 



In the centre of the arms there is an aperture which 

 may do duty for the mouth, but there is not even a 

 semblance of jaws, nor any visible apparatus for taking 

 prey. 



Protruding from the whole of the lower surface are 

 many rows of little semi-transparent papillae, not unlike 

 the " horns " of snails in shape, and each having a little 

 rounded knob at the end. They are in perpetual 

 motion, being continually protruded or withdrawn, and 

 moving in all directions, as if feeling for something. 



This, in fact, is the case. Each of these papillae is an 

 organ of progression, and they are feeling for some object 

 to which they can adhere. The little rounded tip acts 

 as a sucker, and so, when the papillae are brought into 

 contact with any firm surface, they can cause the creature 

 to advance or recede with a smooth, slow, and gradual 

 motion. 



Perhaps the words "advance" and "recede" are hardly 

 applicable to the starfish, as it has no head, no tail, and 

 can move with equal facility in every direction. The 



