Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-16
FUNNY WAYS OF STARFIsH.

Five Individuals in One, Who Live To-
gether AIniably a Rule.
'The attack Of a starfish upon an oyster
may be ikened to an assault by organized con-
spirators, inasmuch as each of these FIVE
fingered animals is composed Of five distinct
individuals" said o scientist to writer for
The STAR. And he added:
each Of the starfsh's five arms has its own
mind. nervous system and thoughts. such as
they are, and all five nerve systems simply meet
in the center where the arms are joined. Thus
it may be said that the mental guidance Of this
complex creature and the management of its
affairs are intrusted to a board of five mem
bers, who have communication with each other
but act without the intermediation of presid-
ing officer. Now. is it not wonderful
that such quintet should be able
to manage its affairs SO well and with such
agreement of purpose in everything? Suppos-
ing that each Of the five individuals attempted
to go where it listed without giving any heed
to the others. the animal could not reach
choice bit Of food, espied from afar with the
eye of one Of its members, nor travel in any
direction with purpose in view. But, as
matter Of fact proved by observation, when
starfsh Is spying after food it lifts the ends of
it's five arms so that the eye beneath each ex-
tremity may get view of things in the neigh
borhood, and if any object worth going after is
like feet beneath the five arms are seen
to push out together in the direction of
the morsel desired There is o unity of inten-
ton among the partners that implies unmis-
takably conscious sharing of aim and design.
The same thing is shown by the way many STAR
fishes have Of letting themselves drop from
steep rocks and cliffs, in order to save the
trouble of labOrious climbing down. In such
cases before they relinquish their hold aid
drop they let 60 with three or four arms hold
60
ing one or two, as If it were to calculate the
leap.
my observations on this subject have in
clined me to think that matters Of concerted
action with startish have not infrequently to
be effected by first obtaining the assent of an
individual ray that il willing. 1t is known that
these creatures sometimes divide themselves
voluntarily into a three-armed and two
armed portion, which may be regarded as the
violent dissolution Of business and domestic
relations once happy, but grown inhar-
one Of its arms and leave it behind,
perhpps because the member is not
found agreeable to live with. If rubber band
or string is fastened around al arm OF one of
these animals and it cannot push the annoy
ance of with its other arms the starfish viii
throw the troublesome arm away, not desiring
to retain the companionship Ut such o cripple.
Starfish are like human beings in many ways.
Then the animal which has thus deprived itself
OF ray grows q new one in place Of the old.
"As for the arm that is dropped it promptly
proceeds to grow four new arms, thus becom-
ing whole starfish itself. Being the biggest
it is presumably fer a long time the boss Of the
five, which must DO gratifying. few years
ago people who caught starfish in the oyster
beds destroyed them, as they thought, by
cutting them in halves and throwing them
overheard, but the process was not very effect
i've, inasmuch as every one thus treated
promptly became two"