150 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 
bundles of brood come out of the pits, the oysters are 
taken off the large shells, and separated from each other 
with a knife known as a “culltack.” These separate 
oysters now go on to the beds, to come up in the autumn 
as “half ware.” During the fourth year the half ware 
of March become the “ ware” of October, and in the 
fifth year the ware taken from the pits and put on the 
beds, come up in the autumn as “oysters,” and are now 
ready for the market. 
But work as he may, the oyster farmer is liable to 
meet with disaster at any time, and lose the whole of 
his harvest. 
We have already seen that the spat may die or may 
not settle on the beds at all, and even if the spat settles, 
a few days cold may kill the lot; later, shifting sands 
may smother the young shell-fish, and lastly there are 
many inhabitants of the sea who appreciate the luscious 
oyster as much as man, and devour it greedily. Skates, 
rays, cod-fish, and the octopus take their share, but the 
worst enemy of the oyster is the “‘ five finger.” This 
star-fish grows to a considerable size, a large specimen 
being as much as from sixteen to seventeen inches in 
length from finger tip to finger tip, and a crowd of 
these ravenous creatures will sometimes swarm over a 
bed, and destroy it in a single night. 
A star-fish extracts an oyster from its shell in a 
variety of ways. Sometimes he will get directly over 
the oyster and encircle it in his fingers, then protruding 
his stomach through his mouth, he engulfs his victim; 
