1 8 3 2 . ^ Entomology. 5 1 3 



of regular paired bundles of bristles, this Cercaria differs from all 

 others known, has apparently overlooked the work of Valette St. 

 George, wherein he figures Cercaria setifera Mull, and C. clcgans 

 Mull, both inhabiting the Mediterranean sea. The tails are pro- 

 vided with bundles of setae in pairs, and are much as in Mr. Fewkes 



species. In his tenth census report on the Oyster Fishery, Mr. 



E. Ingersoll describes the way in which- the star-fish gains 

 entrance to the oyster shell in order to feed upon it. Having 

 met with an oyster, scallop, or other thin-shelled mollusk, and 

 young ones are preferred because their armor is weak, the star- 

 fish folds his five arms about .it in a firm and deadly grasp. Then 

 protruding the muscular ring at the entrance of his stomach 

 through the circular opening in the centre of the under side of 

 the disc, which he previously describes, he seizes the thin, newly- 

 grown posterior edge of the shell, which oystermen call the " nib " 

 or " bill," and little by little breaks it off. Then the star-fish pro- 

 trudes into the shell the distensible mouth of the stomach, until 

 it can seize upon the body of the mollusk. " The consumption of 

 this begins at once, and as fast as the poor oyster's or scallop's 

 body is drawn within its folds, the capacious stomach is pushed 

 farther and farther in, until at last if the mollusk be a large one, 

 the pouches that I. have described as packed away in the cavi- 

 ties of the ray, are also drawn forth, and the starfish has substan- 

 tially turned himself wrong side out. If he is dredged up at this 

 stage, as many examples constantly happen to be, and dragged 

 away from his half-eaten prey, his stomach will be found hanging 

 out of the centre of his body for a distance, perhaps, equal to half 

 the length of one of' the arms, and filled with the juices of the 

 oyster he has devoured, and whose body, within the shell, will be 

 found almost as squarely trimmed as could have been done by 

 scissors." The wholesale manner in which the star-fish invades 

 oyster beds, and the great increase in numbers of this creature 

 since oyster beds have been planted are described. The injury 

 done to oyster beds by the star fish from Buzzard's bay to the 

 western end of Long Island sound is estimated at $200,000 a 

 year. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 1 

 __ No I ES FROM Illinois ; Grain-feeding habits of Field Ckick- 

 ning after a rainy night, a- I was passing along the 



higl 



1 kernel 



had dropped from some farmer's wagon 

 The rain had softened the 



and after watching the insect some time, I found it was eating the 

 germ of the softened kernel ; I wal : il the cricket 



seemed to have satisfied its hunger, and found the germ had all 



'Tin. 



