LESSON I.


FIVE-FINGERED JACK.

What fun it is down by the sea at low tide! Scrambling among the
slippery rocks, we quickly fill a bucket with curious things. Some are
dead, others very much alive; but all have a story to tell us--the story
of the life they lead on the bed of the sea, or among the sands and
rocks of the shore.

Look, here is a Starfish! It is lying on the sand, left high and dry by
the waves, for now the tide is low. The Starfish looks limp and
lifeless, its five reddish-coloured "arms" are quite still.

We know it is an animal that lives in the sea, and dies when washed
ashore. But what does it do in the sea? How does it move without legs or
fins? How can it live without a head? Has it a mouth? What does it eat,
and how does it find its food?

Like so many other sea-animals, the Starfish is a puzzle. Some of its
little tricks puzzled clever people until quite lately. But we know most
of its secrets now.

Pass your finger down one of its arms, or rays. It feels rough, being
covered with knobs and prickles. Now turn the Starfish over, and look
carefully at its underside. In the centre, where the five arms meet, is
the animal's mouth. A harmless sort of mouth, you think, too small to be