GARDENS OF THE SEA 



191 



through which it breathes. And its different 

 arms act like hands, enabling the animal to 

 pry open and devour oysters, clams, mussels, 

 and other shell fish with considerable ease. 

 When it loses an arm another is immediately 

 grown in its place; and, that there shall be no 

 unnecessary waste, the lost arm, if so much as 

 one-fifth of the disk attaches to it, will grow 

 another body. Some of the species have from 

 eight to thirty of these rays or spoke-like arms, 

 all of them adjusted with the greatest nicety. 

 The brittle stars are near relatives of the star 

 fishes. The basket fish (so called from the 

 basket-like appearance when the branched arms 

 are drawn in) is the conspicuous example in 

 the group. He walks on the tiptoes of his 

 tentacles and closes up when touched. 



The crinoids are cup-shaped or lily-like echi- 

 noderms. They are anchored fast by a stalk, 

 much like an animal tethered to a peg in the 

 ground; and they feed in a circle about their 

 anchorage. Some of the family look like a 

 star at the end of a fairy's wand, but the ma- 

 jority of them are more like a flower on a tall 

 stem. From this resemblance comes the com- 

 mon designation of " sea lilies " for the liv- 

 ing species, and " stone lilies " for the fossil 

 forms. Like many another species of echino- 1 



Brittle stars. 



Sen lUiet 



Stone liliet. 



