TURTLES AND BATRACHIANS OF THE LAKE REGION. 501 



were seen among schools of skipjacks near shore, apparently feeding on them. 

 Examples examined December 18 contained, in one instance, two small 

 fishes each about 3 inches long, another the bones of the hind legs of a frog, 

 and still another a fish hook baited with a piece of liver, evidently from some 

 fisherman's line. Of several stomachs examined December 28, some were 

 filled with full grown skipjacks, while others contained several small fishes 

 each. Four examined February 27 contained several minnows evidently 

 taken from fishermen's hooks. On March 2, several others examined contained 

 a number of bait minnows and one a large crawfish. Three examined March 

 8 contained 6 shiners, 3 crawfish, 2 Asellis, 2 leeches, and several long flat 

 worms; and a fourth contained 3 crawfish and 3 snails (probably Phrjsa). 

 One examined March 18 contained one small minnow and a large worm. 

 The stomachs of 4 examined April 27 were all empty, as was another (a male) 

 inspected May 9. On November 16, 1904, one was found with stomach 

 empty and another with one long red leech. One examined January 1, 1905, 

 contained 2 straw-colored minnows, 3 crawfish, 2 large insect larvae, and one 

 large brown flat leech . 



The species of fishes which we have found in the waterdog stomachs are 

 the skipjack {Labidesthes sicculus), the straw-colored minnow (Notropis 

 blennius), the grayback (Fundulus diaphanus), and 2 or 3 species of bait 

 minnows not indigenous to the lake and evidently stolen from fishermen's 

 hooks. One fisherman reported that he had seen a waterdog trying to catch 

 a sunfish, but we were not able to verify this observation. We have fre- 

 quently observed these animals in shallow water near shore among schools 

 of the small fishes named above and evidently intent on preying upon them; 

 never, however, did we see one capture a fish. As alreadj' stated, they were 

 most disposed to feed near shore at night during the summer; but in winter 

 when ice covered the lake they seemed habitually to come into shallow water 

 under the ice in the day-time, particularly on bright sunny days. Sometimes 

 they seem to congregate in considerable numbers under the ice. In the 

 winter of 1899-1900 some boys found several bunched under the ice in a little 

 cove of Lost Lake just north of the Bardsley cottage, and succeeded in killing 

 15 by hitting with a stout club on the ice above them. 



Crawfish also form an important and considerable element in the menu 

 of the waterdog, while the smaller, softer-shelled moUusks, insect and other 

 larvae and perhaps other small aquatic animals, are utilized to some extent. 



According to Mr. J. J. Stranahan, for many years Superintendent of the 

 Fish Cultural Station at Put-in Bay, the waterdog is very destructive to 

 the eggs of the whitefisli. He states that in January, 1897, many of these 

 animals were pumped up with the water supply of the Put-in Bay station and 

 that the stomachs of a considerable number of them contained whitefish 

 and Cisco eggs, the contents of one stomach consisting of 288 whitefish eggs 

 and 4 cisco eggs. From June to August, 1894, while Dr. H. F. Moore, of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, was engaged on investigations in Lake Erie he examined 



