64 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



is in the center of the under side, and an eye is situated at 

 the end of each of its live rays. 



4. Star-fishes are very voracious, and feed mainly on 

 mollusks. They arc very destructive to oysters in many 

 places, and thus come in direct competition with man for 

 the possession of this delicious bivalve. Instead of swallow- 

 ing their food as other animals do, they turn the stomach 

 out of the mouth and over the animal which they wish to 

 devour. 



5. Star-fishes have a wonderful power of reproducing 

 lost parts. If an arm is bitten off by a hungry fish, an- 

 other grows m its place ; and cases are known where all 

 the arms but one have been detached, and the remaining 

 arm and central portion of the body lived on and repro- 

 duced all the destroyed parts. 



6. One of the most interesting traits about this low or- 

 ganized creature is its devotion to its young. The eggs 

 are contained in little pouches at the base of the rays ; and, 

 when emitted, the mother star, instead of abandoning them, 

 gathers them together and forms a kind of protecting arch 

 over them, like a hen brooding her chickens. If the eggs 

 are accidentally scattered, they are brought together again 

 with great care. 



7. In the same localities inhabited by these star-fishes 

 we often find the "serpent stars," so called because their 

 arms are long and slender, and curl at the end like a ser- 

 pent's tail. They are also called "brittle stars," because 

 they break so easily. One curious feature about the brittle 

 stars is, that they break not only when they are expiosed to 

 some outside force, but they have the power to disjoint 

 themselves, and they do so whenever they are in danger of 

 capture or destruction. This ability and disposition to 

 commit suicide is shared by no other animal with which 

 we are acquainted. But as a compensation, and so that 

 the species may not be destroyed, each part, in time, de- 



