STARFISHES 207 
ularly destructive to oyster-beds. The animal fastens itself to a 
bivalve, and protrudes a part of its stomach, with which it envel- 
ops its prey and slowly sucks it out of its shell. When feeding 
on small mollusks they take them into the stomach directly. 
Starfishes regain by natural growth parts of the body which 
may be lost. Sometimes the animal throws off an arm to escape 
capture, and self-mutilation also occurs where unfavorable con- 
ditions exist. Oystermen formerly were ignorant of the star- 
fish’s wonderful powers of regeneration, and were in the habit 
of cutting up those captured in their forks and throwing them 
overboard, thus increasing the number instead of destroying their 
enemies, as each arm with a piece of the body attached to it 
will, it is said, become a new individual. This tenacity of life 
makes starfishes difficult to destroy, and they are exceedingly 
plentiful in all seas. One naturalist speaks of seeing on the 
coast of Maine a bed of starfishes which extended several miles 
and covered the bottom so closely that he picked sixty individ- 
uals off a small stone. On the northern shores of the Pacific 
coast they abound in great variety, and some are of unusual size. 
Asterias gigantea of this region measures two feet across. Another 
species, Phyncopodia helianthoides, measures a yard in diameter, 
and has twenty or more arms. The most common species of the 
Atlantic coast are Asterias vulgaris and A. Forbesii; the former 
ranges from Long Island northward, the latter from Massachu- 
setts to Florida. These are the species particularly destructive 
to oyster-beds. Asterias vulgaris sometimes grows to be fifteen 
inches in diameter; from this, which is perhaps the largest, are 
found starfishes of all sizes down to the very small Cribrella. 
They inhabit all varieties of bottoms, from low-water mark to 
deep water. They are not always abundant in the same place, 
but seem to move about. 
Some oystermen believe that the starfishes get into masses like 
a ball and are rolled along by the tide. This idea comes from 
the fact that an oyster-bed may be free from them one day and 
the next be covered by these pests. To get rid of them the beds 
are swept over with a tangle, which is an iron bar holding swabs 
of raveled rope. The spines of the starfish are caught in the 
