542 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



other firsthand observations appear to ha\'e been made on the habits of the North American 

 species. Analogy, however, with its close relative 5. sqitatina of the eastern Atlantic sug- 

 gests that it lives on or close to bottom, often burying itself partially in the sand or mud, as 

 do rays and flatfishes (pleuronectids), and that it feeds on a variety of fish, perhaps chiefly 

 on flounders and skates, as well as on crustaceans and gastropod mollusks.'" Probably the 

 young are born in summer, when the adults are close inshore. 



Relation to Man. Squattna is not plentiful enough in American waters to be of any 

 commercial importance. In Europe a certain number are marketed for fried-fish shops. 

 Formerly its skin was in some demand for polishing wood and ivory, and in earlier days its 

 dried flesh was "prescribed as a sovereign remedy for the itch.""' 



Range. East coast of the United States from southern New England to North 

 Carolina and southern Florida, north coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and reported recently 

 from Jamaica."^ 



This is a summer visitor to the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. In most years 

 it appears at Cape Lookout, North Carolina, in late March or April to remain until about 

 the first of May. To the northward it has been reported between May and October from 

 Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and from various localities along the coast to the vicinity 

 of New York, as well as in the bays along the southern shore of Long Island. Most of the 

 records for it have been based on odd specimens only. But it has been reported as some- 

 times common on the outer coasts of Virginia and Maryland, as well as Delaware, suggest- 

 ing that this section may be a center of abundance for it. Three specimens have been re- 

 ported from Rhode Island, two from the vicinity of Woods Hole,"^ this last being the 

 most easterly and northerly record for it. Positive knowledge of it southward from North 

 Carolina is limited to reports that it is occasionally taken in summer among the Florida 

 Keys,^° and that it is caught occasionally in shrimp trawls off the mouth of the Mississippi." 

 There is one record for Corpus Christi, Texas, and a 30-inch specimen has been taken in 

 the harbor of Port Royal, Jamaica.^' But it has not been reported at all anywhere between 

 Jamaica and Rio de Janeiro, nor has any other member of its genus for that matter, sug- 

 gesting that its normal range does not extend to the equatorial belt. Although described as 

 quite abundant for a short period in spring off the North Carolina coast,^^ present indica- 

 tions are that it is far less plentiful than is its European relative S. squattna, as many as 26 

 of which have been reported as lying on the beach on the west coast of England at one 

 time." We have seen only one fresh-caught specimen.'" 



26. We wonder whether an old and oft-quoted account of one seen to come to the surface and to seize a living cor- 

 morant may not actually have referred to an ang'ler {Lof/iiiis) which commonly captures sea fowl in this way. 



27. Norman and Fraser, Giant Fishes, 1937: 55. 28. Personal cuiiimunication from Luis Howell-Rivero. 



29. Both of them from Menemsha Bight, Martha's Vineyard Island, the one in 1S73, 'he other in September 1921. 



30. Fowler (Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 5S, 1906: 80). It has also been conjectured that at least one of the speci- 

 mens on which the species was founded was from Florida. But the wording of Lesueur's original account (P'oc. 

 Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., /, 1818: 226) suggests, rather, that both of his specimens were studied by him in a fresh 

 condition, i.e., that they were collected not far from Philadelphia. 



31. Personal communication from Stewart Springer. 32. Personal communication from Luis Howell-Rivero. 

 33. Coles, Proc. bid. Soc. Wash., 2S, 1915: 92. 34. Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., 2, 1S80— 1884: 32s. 



35. In Chesapeake Bay. 



