THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM JOURNAL. 
69 
FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUUFISH, 
FOR OUR YOUNG FOLKS. 
TOLD BY UNCLE OCTOPUS. 
My young friends, your Uncle Octopus has 
been so pleased with the compositions you have 
written in answer to his request, that he means 
to have you try again. This time you may find 
it a little harder work than when you wrote about 
- - —• war- —.' 
whales and seals, for that which he wishes you. 
to write about is not so well known. Those who 
have been to the Aquarium have seen in the 
small salt-water tanks a number of beautiful 
white, red and pink objects, which look very 
much like flowers. They seem to be blossoms 
of china-asters on fhe top of*very big] stems. 
Sometimes they are wide open and at others they 
look like round patches of red and yellow jelly 
spread out on the rock. Now these are not 
flowers, but living creatures, and they are known 
by the name of sea-anemones. In the March 
number of the Journal there was given a long 
description of these wonderful creatures, and 
how they lived and moved about. Now, what I 
want is for you to each try and write, in your own 
way and with your own words, all you know 
about them. Of course you will have to read 
about them first, but you must not write just 
what others have said, but try and make as good 
a composition of your own as you can. 
In some of the compositions about whales 
and seals your Uncle Octopus discovered that 
the one who wrote them was not careful enough 
to tell what he knew in his own words, and so it 
would not have been fair to give the prize to any 
who had written only what was in some book. 
Remember, we shall give two prizes for the 
best two compositions about sea-anemones. 
Those who write them must not be over twelve 
years of age. They must be written by them¬ 
selves, and must be ready before the twenty-sec¬ 
ond day of April. 
We have received, besides the regular compo¬ 
sitions, a few very nice and funny letters, which 
will be published when there is room for them. 
Your affectionate Uncle Octopus. 
THE STAR FALLS IN LOVE, 
BY MADGE ELLIOT. 
“ I’m in love,” said the Star. 
“You are?” said the Gar ; 
‘ ‘ Pray tell us, my friend, all about her. ” 
“She is lovely!” “Of course,” 
Laughed the dainty Sea-horse, 
“And existence is worthless without her.” 
“And what is she like?” 
Asked the Porgie and Pike. 
“In color, the loveliest yellow, 
With broad stripes of black 
Down her beautiful back, 
And her eyes—well, they dazzle a fellow 1” 
“Why, who can she be? 
Did she come from the sea ?” 
Asked the Lady Crab’s prettiest daughter. 
“A Gold-fish, I think,” 
Said the Skate, with a wink. 
“ You are wrong—she don’t live in the water.” 
“Let me take a boquet,” 
Said the Shiner so gay, 
“Of Anemones—daisies or roses.” 
“Oh! tell us, pray do,” 
Said the Blackfish and Blue, 
“In what tank this rare beauty reposes.” 
“ Has she been in this place 
Very long 1” asked the Dace. 
“She came just before our commander—- 
The Prince of Whales—died. 
And she must be my bride ; 
My Sarah—my sweet Sal Amander 1” 
STA R-FIS HES. 
What,v > 11 . ■,u fl unky! a Jjblku &who. has Ike-, 
arrhs, with an eye in the end of each, several 
hundred little legs, a mouth in the centre of his 
body, and who, when he is hungry, gets “out¬ 
side of his dinner” by turning his stomach out 
of his mouth and over the morsel to be devoured ? 
Wouldn’t you think, with so many arms, he 
wo uld be [like the wolf in Red Riding-hood— 
STAR-P1SH. 
“so much the better to hug you with”—and 
wouldn't you be sure, with all those legs, he 
could run like a race horse; and can’t you im¬ 
agine what a meal he might take with so accom¬ 
modating a stomach. 
I am talking about the Star-fish who, with all 
his arms, is not in the least affectionate, but as 
selfish and greedy as he can be; and who, with 
all his legs, gets around in the slowest kind of 
time. He is sure-footed, however, and gets over 
all kinds of surfaces and into all kinds of crev¬ 
ices, and it’s not a bad thing, you know, to be 
“slow and sure” in this world. 
The funniest thing of all is that if one of his 
arms is bitten off by a fish or broken against the 
rocks, another one grows just as good as new. 
What a convenience; and is it not a pity that we 
cannot be supplied with new members now and 
then ? 
If you have never seen one let me tell you just 
how he looks. He has the shape of a five-pointed 
star, and measures from three to six inches from 
tip to tip. His covering is femed of movable 
plates, so that he is able to send himself in every 
direction. The numerous little feet beneath 
each ray or arm are little tubes — locomotive 
suckers—which enables them to move securely 
about. A Star-fish will often cling to a rock so 
firmly that he will allow his feet to be pulled off 
rather than loosen his grasp. 
A curious spot is seen on his back, near the 
junction of two arms. It is a sort of minute 
sieve and forms an entrance to a series of inter¬ 
nal water tubes, some of which connect with the 
sucker feet and supply them with water. 
A Star-fish is as fond of raw oysters as you or 
I, and a right hungry fellow can eat ever so 
many more. They travel chiefly in schools, 
though a solitary one is seen occasionally. A 
number often roll themselves together in a kind 
-oL-bati- a - f id --i-ef— 
Star-fish wiil ofen settle down on an oyster bed 
and destroy it in a few hours. Each fish will 
get on the top of an oyster, surround him with 
his feelers, and when the oyster opens his shell 
he is speedily devoured. Besides feeding on 
mollusks the Star-fish eats dead fish and decay¬ 
ing matier, and in this way serves as a scavenger 
in the water. The baby 
Star-fishes are not the least 
ike their papas and mam¬ 
mas. T1 ey come out of red 
or jellow eggs, are ovoid in 
shape, and have no rays. 
They are livelier than most 
babies. In the tank at the 
Aquarium are yellow-backs 
and red-backs, purple and 
gray—their variety and in¬ 
tensity of coloring being as 
beautiful as a basket of new¬ 
ly gathered roses. I was very 
much surprised the other 
day in seeing one of them 
move off deliberately and 
leave one ray.. Then there 
is the “ brittle-star” who, 
when not able to resist an 
attack, shatters himself to 
pieces. You will not lament 
the fact, however, when I tell you that each frag¬ 
ment becomes a perfect fish in the course of 
time. I often used to wonder if this voluntary 
dissection was painful, but they do it so quickly 
and easily that I have concluded it cannot be. 
I think it is on the principle of “can’t be beat, 
and really admire their pluck. 
Ida B. Roberts, 
