50 INLAND FISHERIES. 



did not approach the ripe condition. An examination of the stars 

 taken in February and March from Narragausett Bay shows that 

 by this season of the year tliey are eating- voraciously, shells, and 

 even fragments of starfish, being found in their stomachs. 



In some previous years the stars have bred in abundance at 

 Woods Holl, but the notes on the time of breeding are somewhat 

 puzzling, as they indicate that the time varies considerably. 



IX. What are the hahits of the "fry'' of free-swimming young? 

 {The young of many marine animals, while far more ahundant 

 than the adults, are far more delicate and easier of extermination)) 



The ripe eggs of the starfish are minute spherical objects, 

 measuring about one-tenth the diameter of the head of a small 

 pin. They are discharged from the female through minute pores 

 near the base of each arm, free, into the water, where they may 

 become fertilized by the spermatozoa discharged from the male 

 in a similar manner. Each q^^, soon after it is fertilized, com- 

 mences to undergo a long series of changes in form. During the 

 first stages of development there is little or no increase in size, 

 and the q^^ rests, like a minute grain of sand, upon the bottom. 

 In the course of a few hours, however, the internal changes which 

 have been taking place express themselves. Yibratile cilia appear 

 in certain areas on the surface of the Q^^, which now begins to 

 rotate, and soon rises from the bottom as a free-swimming larva. 

 Soon after this the mouth and stomach are developed, and the 

 creature takes in food and grows. The growth is rapid, and dur- 

 ing the next three Aveeks, more or less, the larva increases its 

 diameter about fifty times. Meanwhile various internal organs 

 and several long arms, and other external features, are developed. 

 The older fry are called brachiolaria, from the fact that they have 

 so many long arms. One of these brachiolaria of the largest size 

 is represented in Fig. 2, much magnified. The natural size is 

 shown in Fig. 4, where two specimens are figured, erne on either 

 side of the ])it of eel-grass, The animal swims by means of tlie 



