74 INLAND FISHERIES. 



Suiwrnary : In every known case of regenerating starfish caught 

 on the mops and in dredges, the new growth is limited to the 

 arms. The arms are readily loosened and cast off when injured, but 

 almost certainly do not produce new stars, as is shown by the experi- 

 ment in which single arms have been kept for six weeks without 

 trace of regenerating, and by the fact that single arms regenerating 

 the rest of the stars have never been found among this species of 

 star (they are common in some foreign species). Starfish which 

 have been cut in two behave difi'erently in difi^erent cases. They 

 may live for a long time without regenerating the remaining arms 

 to the slightest degree ; they may show no sign of regeneration for 

 several w^eeks, and then regenerate one or more arms ; they may 

 soon regenerate only one or two of the arms w^hen three are re- 

 quired to complete the original form of the body. The rate of 

 regeneration and perhaps the possibility of regeneration are 

 dependent on the food supply, like the rate of growth. It is 

 probably possible for two or more complete stars to result from 

 one, but in many experiments in which the stars were carefully 

 protected this result has not been obtained by me. The prob- 

 ability of this result occurring when stars are torn apart and 

 thrown overboard is doubtless very slight, for, as the experiments 

 show, such stars have difficulty in obtaining food, and are especiallj'^ 

 liable to injury and to destruction by other stars or enemies of 

 various kinds. 



XVII. What are the artificial methods of destruction noxo in 

 use in Ehode Island or elsewhere f 



These methods were given in the last report. 



The starfish become easily entangled in the mops, not only 

 because they are rigid and covered with spines, but because the 

 little forceps (pedicellaria) thickly scattered over the surface of 

 the body catch hold of the threads of the mop. If one presses 

 the upper surface of a live starfish against the back of his hand, 

 he will find that these pedicellaria grasp the hairs on the hand 

 tightly, and will svistain the whole weight of the starfish. 



