54 INLAND FISHERIES. 



whicli set iu tlie disli of water before I returned to the house- 

 boat, v. e., within an hour of the time they were caught. In this 

 condition they attach themselves bj^ their suckers (see Fig. 2) 

 to any object they happen to strike, and cling to it with great 

 tenacity, until the metamorphosis is completed. As the larviB are 

 borne along by the currents, the eel-grass, rock-weed, and espe- 

 cially the fluffy, branching sea-weed, naturally catch immense 

 numbers of them. I think it would not be an exaggeration to 

 say that on a single handful of sea-weed which I picked up about 

 the first of July there were more than a thousand young stars. 

 For the next three weeks they remain for the most part crawling 

 about over this vegetation, gradually working down among the 

 roots of the rock-weed, and on-to the larg-e stones at the bottom. 

 They grow rapidly during this time, but decrease in numbers, for 

 they are bright and conspicuous objects for the small fishes. Nev- 

 theless, they are exceedingly numerous for a long time. In order 

 to obtain a definite expression of their abundance, I scooped up 

 a large handful of the flufiy sea-weed, which, together with the 

 water, about two-thirds filled a paper pail, and my friend Neal 

 Bourne picked off from this 603 young stars. The average size 

 was about that in Fig. 9. A cart-load of sea-weed taken out at 

 this time would have destroyed millions of starfish. 



By the first of August the fluffy, branching sea-weed, which bore 

 so many young stars, was nearly all dead, and though the stars 

 were still present iu great numbers, upon the eel-grass, rock-weed, 

 and stones covered with sea-moss, they were also frequently seen 

 crawling along the muddy bottom. 



By the 15th of August the eel-grass was overgrown and lodged 

 by a luxuriant growth of Botrylus, a compound ascidian, which 

 appears as dark gelatinous patches. The small stars were still 

 numerous upon it, but were rather thin and poor. The greater 

 portion of the stars had left the eel-grass, and were searching for 

 food upon the stones and along the bottom ; these were larger 

 and better nourished than those which remained upon the eel- 

 gi-ass. 



