44 



THE MUSEUM. 



a moccasin which I hope to use in a 

 future article. 



The interest of the northern collect- 

 or is immediately aroused by the num- 

 ber of box turtle (Cistudo Carolina) 

 or "terrapin," which one meets with 

 in the southern states. In my own 

 state (Rhode Island) box turtles are 

 very seldom met with but in Virginia 

 scarcely a day passed that I did not 

 meet with one or more of these anim- 

 als and I did not make any particular 

 search for them. There was a great 

 difference in the color and design of 

 of the markings on the carapace and 

 plation. Some individuals were al- 

 most a complete black while others 

 were nearly covered with yellow mark- 

 ings. There was a considerable vari- 

 ation in shape also. If one can judge 

 anything of their age by the amount 

 that they grow in a certain number of 

 years, some of those that I noticed 

 must have been very old. The boys 

 in the neighborhood often cut their 

 initails and the date into their terra- 

 pin and I found some that had been 

 so marked as much as fifteen years be- 

 fore and as they must have been of 

 good size when the marking was done 

 they did not appear to have grown 

 much in that time. From this I judge 

 they live to be very old. 



I saw no other land turtles but one 

 night we seined the run securing quite 

 a varied collection of fish, turtles and 

 other fresh water animals some of 

 which I shall mention. The fish I am 

 not well enough aquainted with to de- 

 scribe. I think we obtained as many 

 as six species and they proved to be 

 very good from an epicurian stand- 

 point when served on the table next 

 day. Several eels {Augville Chrysy- 

 pa) were also caught in the net. 



Of the fresh water turtles we se- 

 cured three species; we caught one 

 specimen, not a very large one of the 

 "snapper" {Chelydra Serpentina.) 

 The Painted turtle (CcJirysemys pi el a) 

 appeared to be quite common. They 

 are locally known as "skilpots" though 

 why so named I have yet to learn. 



I also secured specimens of another 

 turtle which I have not yet determined 

 Both this and the preceding specie 

 occur very abundantly throughout the 

 streams and ponds of Fauquier Co. 



I did not meet with any other tur- 

 tles on either of my trips to this part 

 of Virginia and think that these four 

 species are the only ones occuring at 

 all commonly in this section. 



Many cray fish (Cambavus affinis) 

 were caught in the seine and I also 

 found this crustacean quite abundant 

 in various springs and little streams in 

 the neighborhood. One large female 

 taken in August had some eight or ten 

 young clinging to its body. Mr. White 

 showed me the remains of some of 

 their burrows in one of his meadows 

 where they reside at certain periods of 

 the year. In general appearance they 

 are very much like diminutive lobsters 

 and they move around in the same 

 manner. Various other interesting 

 animals such as insect larvae, fresh- 

 water unios, etc., where obtained in 

 this night seining, but I did not save 

 these specimens and shall not try to 

 treat of them in this paper. 



So far I have not said much in re- 

 gard to the birds which were very 

 abundant both in number and species. 

 Perhaps the most noticeable bird is 

 the Turkey Buzzard, that famous scav- 

 enger which saves the southern farm- 

 er the trouble of burying any dead an- 

 imals. The buzzards are very com- 

 mon in this section. I have seen 

 twenty-five or thirty at one time fly- 

 ing around, often at a height so high 

 in fact that one wonders how they ev- 

 er managed to locate any objects on 

 the ground. They breed at various 

 points on the rocky mountain side in 

 spring months. 



Of the various other birds which I 

 noticed I shall simply give a list which 

 like the foregoing lists of mammals, 

 reptiles, etc. , is far more complete. 

 I hope that the production of these 

 few notes may induce some other col- 

 lector to send in their contribution to 

 these columns. Surely among the 



