'1 he Eckinodernzatci of JJezv (Brunswick. 
89 
lu habits it is similar to A. tulgaru. Its development has been very 
carefully worked out by Alexander Agassiz. The eggs are cast out into 
the water, and after a series of changes result in a larva which is so dif- 
ferent from the adult that its relationship was not for a time suspected, 
and it was described as a separate animal under the name of Brachiolaria. 
(See Plate, Fig. 5). Its appearance is well shown by the figure. It leads 
an entirely independent existence, taking and digesting food for itself 
and swimming freely about by means of a long band of vibratile cilia. 
The adult Starfish buds off from a point near the mouth and grows at 
the expense of the larva, gradually absorbing the substance of the lattein 
•as it increases in size. J 
0. Asterias littoralis. (Stimpson), Verrill. Asteracan- 
thion littoralis, St. (D). [Asterias Grmnlandicus, 
Steenstrup (P).] Leptasterias littoralis (S). 
Description. (D) p. 14. 
Figure. 
Distribution. (a) General; — Between tide-marks to 
forty or fifty fathoms. Bay of Fundy and Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. 
(b) In N. B. zoaters ; — Grand Manan, ‘^S'ery common 
among the fnci in the middle region of the littoral zone, or 
even near high-water mark — elsewhere I have never found it,’’ 
Stimpson, (D). “Eastport and Grand Man an, abundant from 
half-tide to low-water mark, among rocks and fuci,” Verrill, 
(L), on the shores, (N). Gulf of St. Lawrence, Whiteaves, 
(P). [Mr. Whiteaves now considers the specimens mentioned 
in his reports under the name A. GrcBnlandicum to belong to 
this species.] 
This species is very appropriately named “littoralis,” for it is one 
of the commonest of littoral forms. Stimpson (D), describes it as 
follows : “Body tumid, rays very broad. Ambulacral spines in two 
rows, slender, blunt, or even clavate at their tips. Spines on the sides 
larger than those on the back, but both short, blunt, and showing great 
uniformity in size and distribution. Its color is always a dark green 
above, and it never exceeds an inch and a half in diameter. It is 
very common among the fuci in the middle region of the littoral zone 
or even near high-water mark— elsewhere I have never found it.” Prof. 
Verrill in a letter to the writer says he has found it six to eight inches 
across, and in all depths down to forty or fifty fathoms. Nothing is 
known of its habits more than is indicated above, and we know nothing 
of its development. 
