AN ANCIENT FAMILY. m 



under surface, and armed with five calcareous 

 teeth and strong muscular jaws it is well pre- 

 pared to do its work of crushing small crusta- 

 ceans and moUusks, which are its food. 



" The starfish is the pretty cousin of the sea 

 urchin, and is a ' lineal descendant ' of the ' old 

 family' Orinoidece. There is, in fact, an ^-Is- 

 teria who in its early life adheres to the time- 

 honored custom of its ancestry, and fixed to a 

 stalk attaches itself to some graceful seaweed 

 or aristocratic coralline. Their bodies, like 

 others of this group, are supported by calcare- 

 ous envelopes composed of numerous pieces. 

 The number of these plates in the Red Sea 

 starfish, for example, is estimated to be eleven 

 thousand. 



" Our starfish, as you know, has generally 

 five rays. ' Solaster papposus has ordinarily 

 thirteen ; another has more than thirty. In 

 one variety they are found many feet long. 



" Some starfishes possess the power of grow- 

 ing another ray if one be broken off, and the 

 one sundered may grow four more and be- 

 come starfish ' No. 2.' Not only this, but some 

 varieties are actually suicidal, flying to pieces 

 when taken from the water. 



" The Comatula rosacea, or feathery star, is 

 one of the prettiest creatures you can imagine. 



