INLAND FISHERIES. 57 



eaten by the starfish. The starfish had g-rown considerably, and 

 was eating faster than formerly, for on the next day thirty-nine 

 empty shells were found, and on the day following- this forty-six 

 were empty, while ten more had disappeared altogether, having 

 doubtless been devoured shell and all at some time during the 

 week. To make sure that the clams were killed by the stars, and 

 did not die from some other cause, a control dish of clams was 

 kept, in which all the specimens lived. In. six. days the one starfish 

 devoured over fifty clains. Both starfish and clams represented 

 the average size at this season. I regret that I did not record 

 the exact dimensions of the starfish at the beginning of the exper- 

 iment. Fig. 11 shows about the size of the star at the end of the 

 experiment, on July 25th. 



When we recall how exceeding numerous the starfish are, and 

 that they are found in the same localities with the young clams, 

 the result of this experiment becomes the more significant. At 

 this rate the six hundred specimens taken from the one netful of 

 sea-weed would devour thirty thousand clams in six days. The 

 starfish in a cart-load of sea-weed, if it contained two hundred 

 small fork-loads, would have the capacity for destroying over six 

 million clams in a week. 



Summary : The starfish set for the most part during the last 

 few days in June, and the first week in July, some as late as the 

 16th of July. They remain upon the sea-weed in immense num- 

 bers until about the first of August, when many of them are found 

 upon the bottom. By the 15th of August the greater portion of 

 the stars have left the sea-weed and taken to the bottom. The 

 young stars do very great damage, not only to the young oysters, 

 but to the young clams. 



The destruction of the starfish by the hundreds of thousands 

 could be effected by collecting and drying a few cart-loads of sea- 

 weed taken below low-water mark, in the month of July. After 

 the first week or two of July the collection of the seaweed would 

 not do any injury to the clams. 



