IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 273 
But it is the oddest flower you ever saw, for it has a mouth 
and a stomach, and it is, in fact, an animal. Didn't I tell you we'd 
find wonders in the sea ? The animal consists of two parts, the 
stem and the head. The stem is merely a series of stony joints, 
with a small hole through each, in which is some gelatinous matter. 
The head — or the blossom, as it looks to be — is the true animal. 
It consists of a sort of stony cup to hold the organs of life, and 
the arms. The petals — or arms — are at first five, as you see ; then 
they divide into ten, and sometimes they branch out so as to make 
more than a hundred lovely feathery arms, waving about in the 
water. 
Their business, however, is not just to look pretty, but to 
catch something to eat. For the Sea Lily has a mouth — as I said 
— and a good big one it is, hidden away among those lovely feath- 
ery petals. When a little fish touches one of them, it is at once 
seized and stuffed into the mouth, and then the arms open again 
and look as innocent as though nothing had happened. 
There's another droll thing about this family. Having no 
fingers or forks to pick out the bones, they are obliged to swallow 
their food, bones and all. But they don't like bones in their stomach 
any better than you do ; so when the meal is all digested, they just 
open their mouths and throw out what is left. 
Such an arrangement might be convenient for some children 
I've seen, who don't seem to have time to eat like other people, but 
swallow their food whole, like the little Stone Lily. 
If the water around him is too much disturbed, he folds his 
arms and looks exactly like a lily-bud that has never been opened, 
as you see in the picture. If he is sufficiently alarmed, he can 
throw off his arms, and they will grow on again. 
Some of them live loosely fixed in the soft mud, and can no 
doubt get about a little. 
One of these creatures — the Rosy Feather Star — has a 
curious history. When he is a baby, he is seated on a long stem, 
which moves about in the water like a real flower in the breeze. 
But when he is full grown, he gets tired of his rocking cradle, and 
wants to see more of the world, so he breaks away from his home, 
and starts out for himself, swimming around in the water, or holds 
on to the rocks or weeds, with his feathery arms. He can hold on 
very tightly too, as a gentleman who kept one in an aquarium 
tells us. 
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