NATURAL HISTORY OF THE STAR-FISH. 
213 
large numbers of the larvie were taken in the nets, between 8.30 and 10 o’clock, in 
the evening of this day, between 9 and 11 o’clock, they were even more abundant than 
during the day. The evening was calm and cloudy, with a little rain. Afterwards I 
met with the same experience on several occasions. 
Another question in respect to the movements of the free-swimming larvae is of 
practical importance, inasmuch as they are thousands of times more numerous than the 
adult stars. To what distances may the larvae be carried by the tides and currents 
in our bay 1 ? I can uot answer this question directly, but there are certain facts which 
have an important bearing upon it. 
Although the purple stars (Asterias vulgaris) are common in the lower portion of 
the bay in the vicinity of Newport and Seaconnet, they seem to be totally absent 
from the upper parts, although the adults, at least, can live in these waters. 1 have 
kept them for a long time in Kickemuit River. This would seem to indicate that the 
larvae of purple stars are not transported by the tides from the lower to the upper 
portion of the bay. It may be, of course, that the larvae, unlike the adults, can not 
abide in the upper portion, or that the young stars, as soon as they can crawl, return 
to the southward unnoticed; this seems to me, however, to be improbable. 
The distribution of some other marine animals whose habits are similar to those 
of the brachiolaria is of interest in this connection. At Waquoit, about 10 miles 
northeast of Woods Hole, on the Vineyard Sound side, the water was fairly alive 
with the young of a certain species of jelly-fish, which could be obtained from this 
locality in immense numbers at any time for several weeks during the spring. At 
Woods Hole, however, these specimens were comparatively rare. Again, later in the 
summer, at Menemslia Bight, near Gay Head, another small jelly-fish was found in 
such abundance that every bucketful of water contained thousands of specimens, yet 
they were exceedingly rare, if present at all, at Woods Hole. 
In the upper part of Buzzards Bay, at Neys Neck, the star-fish probably bred in 
great numbers, judging from the appearance of the adults earlier in the spring, yet 
the larvae were rarely caught at Woods Hole. 
These facts, and others of the same nature, certainly suggest that the larval 
star-fish may not be transported to great distances in the bay by the tides. 
IX. What are the habits of the young star-fish? It is possible that the young star - 
fish , like the young of many fish , tend to gather in schools. If so, the young might be killed 
off in thousands. 
The data with reference to the habits of the young stars were collected at Kick- 
emuit, where it was possible to have a certain area along the shore under constant 
observation. Up to the very time when the larvae are ready to set they swim freely 
in the water; and larvae, caught in the tow-net, often set in the dish of water before 
I had returned to the houseboat, i. e., within an hour of the time they were caught. 
In this condition they attach themselves by their suckers (see fig. 3) to any object 
they happen to strike, and cling to it with great tenacity until the metamorphosis is 
completed. As the larvae are borne along by the currents, the eelgrass, rockweed, 
and especially the Huffy, branching seaweed, naturally catch immense numbers of 
them. I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that on a single handful of 
seaweed which I picked up about the 1st of July there were more than a thousand 
young stars. For the next three weeks they remain for the most part crawling about 
over this vegetation, gradually working down among the roots of the rockweed and 
upon the large stones at the bottom. Th«*y grow rapidly during this time, but decrease 
