38 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



r There is, consequently, a community of interest among 

 the planters, in attacking and destroying the star. For, in pro- 

 tecting his own beds, a man also assists his neighbor to whose 

 tracts the stars might go, and, conversely, any neglect of one's 

 own ground constitutes a menace to all cultivators in the vicinity. 



; The work of destroying stars is a duty, as before intimated, 

 in which the natural-growth oysterman usually takes no part. 

 He takes the oyster where he can find it, appropriating the bounty 

 of heaven without accepting any responsibility as to the conserva- 

 tion of a further supply." 



Whenever the starfishes are found upon an oyster bed in 

 excessive numbers, the oyster grower sends out his boats with 

 the star-mops, or tangles, which are dragged back and forth 

 systematically over the bed. 



When the star-mop is drawn to the surface, its load of 

 stars is deposited in a vat or tank and treated with boiling water 

 or live steam. The oyster boats are well equipped with ap- 

 paratus for this purpose, the steam or water being conveniently 

 taken from the vessel's boiler, though some of the steamers have 

 special boilers for this purpose. 



"Attempts have been made to turn to some useful purpose 

 the large quantities of stars taken from the oyster beds of Long 

 Island Sound, and it goes without saying that this should be a 

 more or less valuable by-product of the industry. Properly 

 mixed with other material, they constitute a valuable fertilizer. 

 Frequently, farmers residing in the neighborhood of oyster 

 planters have contracted for the catch of stars, but the oyster- 

 men say that in practice it does not work well, as they find that 

 they cannot depend upon having the accumulation of dead stars 

 regularly removed from their premises, and of course they can- 

 not allow them to remain and putrefy. As a consequence, the 

 usual mode of disposition is to throw them overboard after they 

 have been killed in the live steam or boiling water bath." 



A perusal of the Reports of the State Shell-fish Commis- 

 sioners reveals many instances of the excessive losses caused by 

 starfish in former years. In the report for 1883 the statement 

 occurs that thousands of bushels of oysters were destroyed in 

 one locality within a single week. A single firm lost $20,000 



