INLAND FISHERIES. 41 



will, however, move along over a surface covered with a very thin 

 layer of Avater, even if it is not deep enough to cover the whole 

 body. The animals are perfectly secure, therefore, in a disk of 

 water as shallow as a soup plate, so long as the water does not ' 

 flow over the edge. But if they are placed in an aquarium which 

 is constantly overflowing, they will frequently crawl over the edge 

 and down on the outside. No barrier, therefore, over which even 

 a thin layer of water is flowing, would be effective. 



IV. Are the starfish widch are rejxited to ajypear in schools in 

 any nKiy different from thorn knov'n to occur ncduraUy in a particu- 

 lar locality f 



I have thus far not had an opportunity to examine the starfish 

 reported to appear in schools. 



Y. To or from what distance may starfish 'migrate f 



This is a problem which has a decidedly practical bearing, but 

 w'e have as yet very little accurate data for its solution, I hav-e 

 been told by several oystermen that the starfishes sometimes sud- 

 denly appear in great numbers upon the oyster beds, and move 

 over them at the rate of a quarter of a mile per daj^, more or less. 

 It is generally understood, moreover, that there is some sort of a 

 seasonal migration especially noticeable at the sjiring and fall, 

 but the character and extent of this migration, if it really occurs, 

 is unknown. 



If a starfish crawled constantly in one direction, at the rate of 

 six inches per minute, which is a fair rate for a medium sized spec- 

 imen, it would travel about four miles in a month. At this rate 

 starfish could go from one end of the Bay to the other in the 

 course of the summer. But there is no good evidence that they 

 do take such extended excursions. The fact that stars can be 

 found all the year round in the upper part of the Bay, and on the 

 oyster beds, shows that there is not a wholesale migration to any 

 great distances. There are some other facts which seem to indicate 



