The Siar-Fish. 



31 



This star fish with the round disk 

 and the snaky arms is the brittle- 

 star (Fig. 6). Though found in 

 abundance on our coast, he hides him- 

 self away under rocks and seaweeds, 

 so that he is rarely seen by most 

 people. " Catch me if you can," he 

 seems to say, for not only does he 

 wriggle away at a speed that is the 

 greatest contrast to the snail's pace of 

 the common star-fish, but if we do 

 seize one long ray, he coolly drops it 

 off, and disappears with the other 

 four. Often the only way to secure 

 a perfect one is by dipping it up in 

 a quantity of water with the sea- 

 weed on which it lies. 



Fig 6.. 



Fio. 6 



The rays of the brittle-star are solid, the ambnlacral plates,— 

 which oonespond to the perforated plates of the star-fish,— being 

 on the inside and covered by » row of extra plates, so that the 

 organs of the body must needs be all in the disk. Though his 



