INLAND FISHERIES. 51 



motile cilia, which are arranged in bands, represented 1)\^ the 

 heavy lines in the fig-ure. They form a complicated pattern over 

 the surface of the body, and extend out upon the arms. The 

 body is quite transparent, and the tips of the arms, which are 

 shaded in the lig-ure, are light red. The larva represented in 

 Fig. 2 is old, and would probably have set within twelve hours. 

 Already the rudiment of the resulting starfish, the disc-shaped 

 body at the bottom of the figure, can be seen within the brachio- 

 larian. The five crenate lobes on the margin of the disc are the 

 beginning of the five arms. The disc itself at this time is already 

 somewhat opaque. 



When the larva is about to "set "it attaches itself to some 

 object, like a spear of eel-grass, by the suckers, shown at the top 

 of the figure, and then a rapid transformation occurs. The whole 

 superstructure above the disc collapses and becomes absorbed 

 like the tail of a tadpole. In a few hours the brachiolarian has 

 disappeared, and a starfish proper has taken its place. 



Although the free-swimming larv?e have a considerable power 

 of locomotion, and can swim from one side of a dish to the other 

 in a few" minutes, they can not, of course, make headway against 

 the tidal currents, and are carried hither and thither with their 

 ebb and flow. 



Other extensive movements of the larv.e are executed in re- 

 sponse to such changing conditions as those of light and temper- 

 ature ; at a certain time myriads of them are swimming at the sur- 

 face of the water, and in twelve hours not one specimen can be 

 found. The brachiolarian, like more lowly organized forms of liv- 

 ing creatures, although it has no eyes, is exceedingly sensitive to 

 light, being attracted to it sometimes, and again being repelled 

 by it. According to my experience, they were found at the sur- 

 face in greatest abundance on cloudy or misty days and nights, 

 and were much more rare, or absent altogether, on bright clear 

 days and moonlight nights. On the evening of June 27th, for 

 instance, I skimmed the surface with the tow-net from nine until 

 eleven o'clock, and not a single larval star was found, though 



