Reproduction by eggs is not the only means of generation in vogue. In common with other sea animals the Star-fish has the strange capacity of detaching one or more of its arms, each of the cast-off members becoming in time a perfect creature of its own kind, while a new arm, fully equipped to perform all necessary functions, will grow out in place of the lost member. From twelve to fifteen weeks are required to reproduce a lost ray, the animal meanwhile seeming not the least discontented, but acting as utterly unconscious of any changes in its anatomy. As found upon the shore, Star-fishes appear dead when really they are alive. Put one of these perfectly still creatures into fresh sea-water, and in a short time it will probably be disporting itself as freely as ever it did. But as the dead and the living, when stranded by the tide, present nearly the same appearance, some certain test seems necessary to distinguish them apart. If a Star-fish hangs loose and limp, it is dead; but, however dead it may look, if on touching it there are manifest a firmness and consistency in its substance, one may feel reasonably sure that it is playing the ’possum and will revive when placed in the water. Quite as certain a mode of ascertaining whether your starry friend is living or dead, is to lay it upon its back, when, if alive, a number of semi-transparent globular objects will be seen to move, reaching this way and that, as though feeling for something to lay hold of wherewith to restore it to its normal position. These globular appendages are the _ambulacra_, or locomotory organs, seeking to acquire this end. If, however, no movement is manifested, you can wisely conclude that your animal is dead. The Star-fish, not unlike all other animals of the sea, has an appetite that is never satisfied. Dinner is always welcome. The procurement of food seems its chief concern in life. It is a scavenger of no mean importance, keeping up an incessant chase after all kinds of dead animal matter, and thus largely contributing, it is probable, towards the maintaining of the waters of the ocean in a state of purity. But its feeding is not exclusively restricted to decaying matters. Any species of mollusk, from the humble whelk, not more than five-eighths of an inch in length, to the lordly oyster, so esteemed by epicures, constitutes a dainty tidbit. No more inveterate ravager and brigand, not even excepting man himself, have the oyster-beds to disturb the equanimity and serenity of their existence than the audacious, insinuating Star-fish.