A STARFISH AND A DAISY 207 



our museums we may see them preserved in glass 

 jars. That, however, detracts nothing from the 

 marvel of their history and relationship. They 

 send root-like organs deep into the mud, where 

 they coil about some shell and there cling fast. 

 Then the stem grows tall and slender, and upon 

 the summit blooms or is developed the animal- 

 flower. Its nourishment is not drawn from the 

 roots and the air, as is that of the daisy, but is 

 provided by the tiny creatures which swim to its 

 tentacles, or are borne thither by the ocean cur- 

 rents. Some of these crinoids, as if impatient of 

 their plant-like life and asserting their animal 

 kinship, at last tear themselves free from their 

 stem and float off, turn over, and thereafter live 

 happily upon the bottom of the sea, roaming 

 where they will, creeping slowly along and ful- 

 filling the destiny of our imaginary daisy. 



And here a comparison comes suddenly to mind. 

 How like to a many-rayed starfish is our creeping 

 crinoid ! Few of us, unless we had studies about 

 these creatures, could distinguish between a cri- 

 noid and one of the frisky little dancing stars, or 

 serpent stars, which are so common in the rocky 

 caves along our coast. TJiis relationship is no less 

 real than apparent. The hard-skinned "five 

 finger,' ' or common starfish, which we may pick 

 up on any beach, while it never grew upon a stem, 

 yet still preserves the radial symmetry of its 

 stalked ancestors. Pick up your starfish, carry 



