Finite cutoff on the string worldsheet? art. no. 046004

D-brane backgrounds are specified in closed string theories by holes with a ppropriate mixed Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on the string wo rldsheet. As presently stated, the prescription defining D-brane background s is such that the Einstein equation is not equivalent to the condition for scale invariance on the string worldsheet. A modified D-brane prescription is found that leads to the desired equivalence, while preserving all known D-brane lore. A possible interpretation is that the worldsheet cutoff is f inite. Possible connections to recent work of Maldacena and Strominger and Gopakumar and Vafa are suggested. [S0556-2821(99)05914-7].