Handbook of Paleontology 165 



sey and lives in sand and gravel as well as muddy 

 beaches at low-water mark where it constructs a 

 U-shaped' tube of mud particles fastened together with 

 mucus. It is 12 to 15 inches long, flesh-colored, red- 

 dish or brown and is provided with two rows of bris- 

 tles on the sides of each segment. The head end is 

 provided with blood-red treelike gills and flesh-colored 

 tentacles which spread out over the ground in all di- 

 rections, constantly expanding and contracting, while 

 the worm remains in the tube. The Sea Mouse 

 {Aphrodite aculeata) is a remarkable worm, oval in 

 shape, with a length of about three inches and a width 

 of about one-half inch. It is found in muddy beaches 

 below low-water level from Long Island northward 

 and along the northern shores of Europe. The head 

 is provided with feelers and the legs with short, stiff 

 bristles, brown in color. The skin is of a dull brown 

 color but the numerous hairlike bristles that cover the 

 sides of the body show a brilliant green, red or yellow 

 iridescence. 



Among the echinoderms, starfishes, brittle stars, sea 

 urchins and sea cucumbers are represented. The Mud 

 Starfish (Ctenodiscus crispatus) is abundant upon muddy 

 bottoms from Cape Cod to the Arctic ocean, but it lives 

 at depths greater than 100 feet, has short blunt arms and 

 it looks like a five-rayed cake. This starfish is about two 

 and three-quarters inches in diameter and of a dull 

 ocher-yellow or slightly greenish color. The common 

 Green Starfish (Asterias arenicola) inhabits mussel and 

 oyster beds. This form ranges from Massachusetts bay 

 to Northern Florida. It is found on the northern shores 

 of the Gulf of Mexico and is rare in sheltered places 

 along the Maine coast. It is very common in Long 



