No. 19.] ECHINODERMS OF CONNECTICUT. 61 



restricted localities a definite color variety may predominate. 

 After death the body assumes a dull reddish or orange color, and 

 the madreporic plate is yellow or brown. 



The plates of the aboral surface bear numerous blunt spines 

 surrounded by circles of pedicellarise (Plate III). The respira- 

 tory papulas, or branchije, are grouped in clusters of four to six 

 or more in large areas between the spines. Each of the plates 

 adjacent to the ambulacral grooves bears usually two slender, 

 flattened, sharply truncated spines. The number of such plates 

 increases with the growth of the animal, being from 80 to 120 

 in well grown individuals. 



A full and interesting account of the habits and life history 

 of this species is given by Mead, in the Bulletin of the U. S. Fish 

 Commission for 1899. 



Asterias vulgaris Verrill 



Northern Starfish 



Plates V, VIII, IX. 



Although this species is found in the colder waters of the 

 eastern part of the Sound, its more usual habitat is farther to 

 the northward. It is occasionally found as far west as Faulk- 

 ner's Island and the Thimble Islands, but becomes more common 

 from New London eastward, particularly in the deeper and colder 

 waters. 



This is the common starfish north of Cape Cod, and ranges 

 northward to the coast of Labrador. In the deeper, colder waters 

 off the Atlantic coast the species extends south as far as Cape 

 Hatteras. In certain localities, as at Woods Hole, Mass., Narra- 

 gansett Bay, and the eastern part of Long Island Sound, this 

 species is sometimes associated with the common starfish. The 

 same or a very similar species occurs on the coast of Europe, 

 where it is known as Asterias rubens. 



Explanation of Plate IX. Asterias vulgaris. About one-half natural 



size. 

 Photographs of living individuals, from aboral and oral surfaces. 

 In the upper figure the disk is somewhat unusually swollen. The lower 

 figure shows the four rows of tube-feet and the mouth. These figures 

 well illustrate the characteristic arrangement of the spines on both surfaces 

 of the body. 



(Photographs loaned by the U. S. Fish Commission, with permission 

 of Dr. H. L. Clark.) 



