44 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



A remarkable occurrence of Devonic starfish. The attention of 

 the State Geologist was called to the occurrence of starfish in a sand- 

 stone on Mount Marion near Saugerties, through the courtesy of 

 Professor Chadwick and the Rev, Thomas Cole, the discoverer. The 

 sandstone proved to be of Hamilton age and carries some of the 

 brachiopods and pelecypods which characterize that fauna in the 

 central parts of the State. It seemed well to investigate this occur- 

 rence. The specimen sent in by the Rev. Mr Cole was a slab which 

 had been broken from a ledge some years before and the locus of 

 this outcrop was no longer known. Mr H. C. Wardell of the staff 

 entered this field and after some days of search on the slopes of 

 Mount Marion and of careful uncovering of concealed ledges, suc- 

 ceeded in finding the starfish-bearing rock. He then proceeded, with 

 adequate assistance, to strip the layer bare and eventually uncovered 

 an area of about two hundred square feet of the sandstone surface, 

 this surface being bounded at the sides by slightly sagging crushed 

 zones at which apparently the sandstone was displaced. The excava- 

 tion was carried into the hill as far as practicable under the increas- 

 ing overburden. This is a region where the rock layers have been 

 subjected to some appalachian tilting but it is not yet known whether 

 this productive sandstone is displaced beyond reach along the side 

 lines or sags of crushing. From the sandstone layer as thus exposed 

 were taken slabs and smaller specimens bearing not less than four 

 hundred examples of the starfish Palaester eucharis 

 Hall, a species described from the sandy shales of Madison county. 

 It is probable that never before have so many starfish been found in 

 an equal area of rocks of any geological age. Some views of speci- 

 mens are here inserted to convey a conception of their number as 

 well as of their fine preservation as external and internal casts. 



This occurrence is not only noteworthy for the marvelous abund- 

 ance of the starfish but for the fact that their intimate association 

 with the pelecypods or clams of the fauna not only suggests but 

 seems to demonstrate the fact that the Palaeasters were feeding on 

 the clams at the time they were overwhelmed in these sands. In 

 present seas and existing oyster plantations the starfish is recognized 

 as the most voracious enemy of the bivalves, especially in oyster beds 

 that are free from much indrainage of land water and where the sea 

 keeps to a normal salinity. To the oyster planter of the Long Island 

 shores salvation lies only in eternal vigilance against these depre- 

 dators and scores of bushels of stars are annually " mopped " from 

 even small oyster fields. The mode of attack by the starfish on the 



