38 



the acid thereafter ran off to the ground and was lost . The calcareous , exoskeleton 

 makes the starfish very non-absorbent and difficult to treat by ad-mixture of any 

 liquid in this manner. The fact that the calcium sulfate formed by the acid action 

 is only slightly soluble in either acid or water further tended to hinder the re- 

 action going rapidly to equilibrium. 



In treating the second lot of starfish, a single concentration of strong acid, 

 1 part of acid to 1 of water by volume, was used in an effort to lessen the loss 

 by run off, and the volume of acid was varied. The lot was divided into 4 batches 

 which were treated with 2, 3, 4, and 7 quarts, respectively, of the 1 to 1 acid in 

 the same manner as the first lot. The weights of the individual batches were 

 estimated to be about the same as for lot 1 , or approximately 70 to 80 pounds each. 



After treatment, the starfish were allowed to remain in a pile for a time 

 in order to allow absorption of as much of the acid as possible. They were then 

 raked out into a thin layer on the ground to dry. Threatening rain on October 29 

 made it necessary to take the first 3 lots into the shelter of a shed. October 30, 

 the weather cleared and all 7 lots were spread outside to dry. Unfortunately, 

 during the night, the whole area was flooded by an exceptionally high tide, so 

 that all piles were under water the morning of October 31 • Some starfish floated 

 off but the bulk of each lot was forked out of the water and moved to high ground. 

 The next day, rain again made it necessary to move the starfish inside so that on 

 the following day the material was packed into barrels and shipped to College Park . 



RESULTS 



At the time of shipping, decomposition had already begun in the batches treated 

 with 6 quarts of 1 to 9 acid and 2 quarts of 1 to 1 acid and only small amounts of 

 these batches were shipped (batches 1 and 4, Table 1). Some spoilage was also 



evident in the batches which had been treated with 6 quarts of 1 to 4 acid and 

 3 quarts of 1 to 1 acid (batches 2 and 5, Table 1). The condition of the other 3 

 batches indicated fair preservation, evident by the comparative stiffness of the 

 starfish, which normally mat together quite cohesively. This matting makes it 

 difficult to sun-dry fresh starfish, and consequently, the acid treated samples 

 would dry relatively easily and rapidly, given suitable weather. 



On arrival November 5, at College Park, 6 and 8 days after treatment, in- 

 spection confirmed previous conclusions as to the effectiveness of the various 

 treatments. Only the batches treated with 6 quarts of 1 to 2 acid, and 4 and 7 

 quarts of the 1 to 1 acid solutions were fairly well preserved (batches 3, 6, and 

 7, Table 1). 



