484 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
It is claimed that some planters suffer severe losses because they own beds near | 
grounds covered with starfish. Although they may make strenuous efforts to keep 
their beds clean, their work is rendered almost useless by starfish from neighboring 
grounds. This is one reason why oyster-farmers consider it a disadvantage for the ' 
State to reserve natural beds for public use, since no one has sufficient interest in them 
to spend time and money in keeping them free from starfish and other p^ests. i 
Notwithstanding the annual expenditure of many thousands of dollars to keep the 
beds free from starfish, the estimated damage done by them in Connecticut waters \ 
amounted to $463,600 in 1887, to $631,500* in 1888, and to $412,250 in 1889. 
During 1889 many steamers were kept at work a greater part of the time in the 
effort to clean the oyster beds from stars.” One firm took from its beds in a single 
year 7,000 bushels, or 2,500,000 starfish in round numbers. In some cases 75 bushels 
were taken in a single day. The total quantity of starfish taken from Connecticut 
beds in 1888 amounted to about 42,000 bushels, or nearly 15,000,000 individuals. 
The starfish is destructive to oysters of all sizes. The fishermen and planters 
hold varying beliefs respecting the method of attack, which will not be discussed 
here. The reader is referred to scientific treatises on the subject published elsewhere, t 
In a subsequent paragraph reference is made to the means employed to clean the beds. 
42. Drills . — The drill and “winkles” are very troublesome to the oyster-planter. 
There are three species of these — the drill {Urosalpinx cinerea) and two kinds of peri- 
winkle {Sycotypus canaliculatus and Fulgtir carica) — all known by the common name 
of “ borers,” a term derived from the manner in which they are supposed to effect an 
entrance into the shell of an oyster. The drill is particnlarly destructive to small 
oysters, but the periwinkles are larger and consequently able to prey upon full-grown 
stock. What may be termed the tongue of the drill is provided with several rows of 
teeth-like appendages with which it rasps an entrance into the shell, and then the 
defenseless oyster is eaten piece-meal. The drill usually bores through the side of an 
oyster. In some localities tjiese “borers” are more harmful than starfish, since they 
are always on the ground and always destructive, while the “star” is migratory and 
leaves the beds a portion of the year. These pests are most prominent in New Haven 
Harbor and at Princess Bay, New York. They apparently increase in numbers and 
destructive power each year. At New Haven the estimated damage done by them 
in the past three years was $15,000 in 1887, $20,000 in 1888, and $25,000 in 1889. 
It is fortunate that this destruction is not widespread, for it is more difficult to 
rid the oyster beds of drills thau to clean off the starfish. The latter are taken up 
with the oysters, even without special dredging, and to this extent at least the grounds 
may be frequently cleaned; but the drill is so small that few are ever taken in an 
ordinary dredge. The best remedy is to clean the infested locality thoroughly by 
dredging it several times, using a small-meshed net on the dredge; both oysters and 
“ borers ” are taken ; the former are replanted and the latter destroyed. 
43. Other harmful agencies. — There are various other minor enemies or agencies 
injurious to the oyster, but these are mostly of small consequence. 
* The exceptional damage caused in 1888 is probably because they fed upon the large set of young 
oysters secured in 1887, which could be more easily destroyed than adults. 
tSee Ingersoll’s Monograph, j). 228. Also Bulletin U. S. Fish Com.,vol. v., 1885, p. 77. Also “A 
history of British starfishes,” by Edward Forbes, p. 87. 
