108 Papers from the Department of Marine Biology. 



I am thus inclined to believe that even these larger cassiopeas may 

 show a significant degree of alteration after a longer period of starva- 

 tion than that given them by Mayer, and when the animals have lost 

 80 per cent or so of their initial body-weight. 



ANALYSIS OF THE DIVISIONS OF THE STARVED CASSIOPEA. 



Various determinations made on the different parts of the body 

 show that the water-content is practically identical in all the starved 

 cassiopeas. Here also, as in the case of the normal animal, the um- 

 brella gives a slightly higher water value, owing possibly to the inclu- 

 sion of the stomach contents (water). The percentage of nitrogen hi 

 the solids also shows relations similar to those in the normal cassiopea ; 

 that is, the nitrogen-content is highest in the velar lobes and lowest 

 in the umbrella, while that for the mouth-organs occupies an inter- 

 mediate position. 



I have shown (in table 6) the loss of weight in body as the result of 

 21 days of starvation. We noted that in this series the cassiopeas lost 

 on the average as much as 72 per cent of their initial weight, but as to 

 whether they lost in weight proportionally in the different divisions 

 of the body, or whether the loss was otherwise distributed in the three 

 parts, I have found the following relations: 



For a final starved body-weight of 29.97 grams (table 6) the relative 

 weights of the mouth-organs, umbrella, and velum are 18, 10, and 2 

 grams, respectively, when read from figure 1, while the corresponding 

 observed weights were 17.16, 10.82, and 1.99 grams. Reducing these 

 relative weights to ratios we obtain for the body-weight of 29.97 grams 



From figure 1,9:5:1 From observations, 8.6: 5.4: 1 



For the initial body-weight of 96.32 grams (table 6) of the animals 

 subsequently starved to the weight just noted the ratios (from fig. 1) 

 are 8:5:1. Considering the conditions under which the comparison 

 of these data are made, these three ratios may be regarded as equiva- 

 lent and show that the three parts of the body have, as it were, reversed 

 the process of growth during starvation. The strictly proportional 

 loss in these three parts accounts for the normal appearance of the 

 animals, even after they have lost as much as 62 to 80 per cent of their 

 original weight. 



The statement made in my preliminary report (1916) that "in the 

 starved cassiopese the relative weights of the three parts coincide with 

 those given by the normal cassiopea, which have a body-weight similar 

 to the starved cassiopea at the end of the test, and not to the relative 

 weights at the beginning of the experiment," should therefore be 

 changed to a more general statement by omitting "and not to the 

 relative weights at the beginning of the experiment," since the devia- 

 tions of the proportional values after starvation are so slight, whether 



