NO. 19.] ECHINODERMS OF CONNECTICUT. 57 



while below it the oysters were absent. The oysters set some- 

 what later in the season than the starfish, and the latter, there- 

 fore, are ready to prey upon the young oysters as soon as they 

 appear. When, in addition to these facts, we take into account 

 the extraordinary voracity of the young starfish, their immense 

 numbers, and their special fondness for oysters, we are led to 

 conclude that one reason why a considerable set of oysters is so 

 rarely obtained below low water is that they fall prey to the 

 starfish. The oysters which set above low water are comparatively 

 safe, for when the tide leaves them uncovered they can endure 

 for hours the direct heat of the sun, which would kill the young 

 starfish in a few minutes. 



" While the starfish are living upon the eelgrass and seaweed 

 they are supplied with an abundance of food in the form of the 

 young of marine worms, snails, and other animals, which, like 

 the stars themselves, swim freely in the sea for a time, and then 

 settle down upon any object with which they happen to come in 

 contact. Throughout July the water at Kickemuit was teeming 

 with minute free-swimming creatures, and in the aquarium the 

 growth of the youngest stars could be greatly accelerated by feed- 

 ing them the contents of the tow-net. During the last four days 

 of June innumerable larvae of a marine worm (Syllis) were 

 swarming at the surface, and on July n millions of the young 

 of one of the sea snails (Littorinaf) were caught in the tow-nets. 



" The clam, also, is one of those unfortunate animals whose 

 larvae set at about the same time as the starfish, and in the same 

 places. The starfish before they are three days old show a predi- 

 lection for young clams, which apparently does not diminish so 

 long as any clams remain." 



In Fig. 7 one of these young starfish is shown in the act of 

 devouring a small clam. A single young starfish has been known 

 to devour as many as 56 small clams within a period of six days. 



" From the foregoing it appears that the starfish set for the 

 most part during the last few days in June and the first week 

 in July, some as late as July 16. They remain upon the seaweed 

 in immense numbers until about the 1st of August, when many 

 of them are found upon the bottom. By August 15 the greater 

 portion of the stars have left the seaweed and gone to the bottom. 



