Five-Fingered Jack on the Oyster. 43 
and leave them to themselves, but gathers them to the maternal 
fold with the same tender, patient solicitude as characterized 
her first efforts. Confined to a tank, when with ova, the 
mother Star has been known to traverse the entire length of 
the vessel until she has found and recovered her scattered 
treasures. 
Reproduction by eggs is not the only means of generation 
in vogue. In common with other sea animals the Star-fish 
has the strange capacity of detaching one or more of its arms, 
each of the cast-off members becoming in time a perfect 
creature of its own kind, while a new arm, fully equipped to 
perform all necessary functions, will grow out in place of the 
lost member. From twelve to fifteen weeks are required to 
reproduce a lost ray, the animal meanwhile seeming not the 
least discontented, but acting as utterly unconscious of any 
changes in its anatomy. 
As found upon the shore, Star-fishes appear dead when 
really they are alive. Put one of these perfectly still creat- 
ures into fresh sea-water, and in a short time it will probably 
be disporting itself as freely as ever it did. But as the dead 
and the living, when stranded by the tide, present nearly the 
same appearance, some certain test seems necessary to dis- 
tinguish them apart. If a Star-fish hangs loose and limp, it 
is dead; but, however dead it may look, if on touching it 
there are manifest a firmness and consistency in its substance, 
one may feel reasonably sure that it is playing the ‘possum 
and will revive when placed in the water. Quite as certain 
a mode of ascertaining whether your starry friend is living 
or dead, is to lay it upon its back, when, if alive, a number 
of semi-transparent globular objects will be seen to move, 
reaching this way and that, as though feeling for some- 
thing to lay hold of wherewith to restore it to its normal 
position. These globular appendages are the amdwlacra, or 
locomotory organs, seeking to acquire this end. If, however, 
no movement is manifested, you can wisely conclude that 
your animal is dead. 
