68 



THE WONDER OF LIFE 



trations of that. One of the British starfishes, Asterias 

 mulleri, seems to skip the usual free-swimming larval stage, 

 for a specimen has been seen on the shore with the 

 miniature young ones crawling about on their mother's 

 body, as shown in the subjoined figure of one of the Chal- 

 lenger starfishes. The marine leech, or skate-sucker, lays 



FIG. 22. A starfish, Leptoptychaster kerguelensis, with the young ones 

 (Y), clambering about on the mother, the free -swimming larval stage 

 having been suppressed. (After the Challenger Report.) 



its eggs in the empty shell of a bivalve mollusc, and mounts 

 guard over them week after week, carefully removing any 

 mud or debris that might smother them. In a number 

 of shore crustaceans the young are carried about by the 

 mother, and may move about on her body in a very quaint 



