. Shells and sea-life. WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. Bight again; and from these it gets its put your finger down to its mouth and holdit still; it will not hurt you. Why, the creature is closing all its rays roundmy finger, and pulling itself together into a littlebunch. Yes; and if your finger had been a limpet or alittle crab, it would have been pulled inside,through the creatures mouth, down into itsstomach. And it would never have come out alive, either; though aftera time the creature wouldhave thrown out theempty shell. But can the anemonechange its place? Slightly; but it gener-
. Shells and sea-life. WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. Bight again; and from these it gets its put your finger down to its mouth and holdit still; it will not hurt you. Why, the creature is closing all its rays roundmy finger, and pulling itself together into a littlebunch. Yes; and if your finger had been a limpet or alittle crab, it would have been pulled inside,through the creatures mouth, down into itsstomach. And it would never have come out alive, either; though aftera time the creature wouldhave thrown out theempty shell. But can the anemonechange its place? Slightly; but it gener- M^--^^J Silly chooses its home ona rock, and stays thereall its life. You will findbeds of small gray ones on some rocks, so closetogether that they touch one another. Again, indeeper water, you will see great green ones livingapart, and, when open, each one looks like abeautiful flower six or eight inches across. Theirtentacles, or rays, are very sensitive, and quicklycatch any unlucky creature that comes in SOME CREEPING THINGS. 127 Can we keep this creature when it is dead? Only by putting it in some preserving fluid,like alcohol, for all of its parts are soft, and it hasno shell. If you wish to preserve the sea-urchinsshell, you can either take out the mouth partsand thoroughly clean the inside, and then drythe shell with the spines on, or you can boil thewhole shell in water and rub off the spines withan old brush. But what has Pauline? It is a little starfish with five arms; but howfast they move. No; it is not a starfish, but a Brittle-star,though the two are quite nearly related. See; ithas a hard, round body, like a button, with a littlemouth in the center; and these five arms are notparts of the body, as in the starfish, but are morelike little whips, by which it gathers in its you disturb it, some of these little arms arevery apt to break off, and so the creature is calleda brittle-star. The brittle-stars which live around the beachdo not grow very
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmollusk, bookyear1901
