NO. 19.] ECHINODERMS OF CONNECTICUT. 55 



occurs. The whole superstructure above the disk collapses and 

 becomes absorbed like the tail of a tadpole. In a few hours the 

 brachiolarian has disappeared, and a starfish proper (Fig. 6) has 

 taken its place. 



FIG. 6. Aboral surface of star- 

 fish shortly after the metamor- 

 phosis. (After Brooks.) 



' Up to the very time when the larvae are ready to set they 

 swim freely in the water; and larvae, caught in the tow-net, 

 often set in the dish of water before I had returned to the house- 

 boat, i. e., within an hour of the time they were caught. In 

 this condition they attach themselves by their suckers to any 

 object they happen to strike, and cling to it with great tenacity 

 until the metamorphosis is completed. As the larvae are borne 

 along by the currents, the eelgrass, rockweed, and especially 

 the fluffy, branching seaweed, naturally catch immense numbers 

 of them. I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that on 

 a single handful of seaweed which I picked up about the first 

 of July there were more than a thousand young stars. For the 

 next three weeks they remain for the most part crawling about 

 over this vegetation, gradually working down among the roots of 

 the rockweed and upon the large stones at the bottom. They grow 

 rapidly during this time, but decrease in numbers, for they are 

 bright and conspicuous objects for the small fishes; yet they 

 are exceedingly numerous for a long time. In order to obtain 

 a definite expression of their abundance, I scooped up a large 

 handful of the fluffy seaweed, which, together with the water, 

 filled about two-thirds of a paper pail, and from this 603 young 



