4 COPEIA 



Writing of this species in Fishes of North Caro- 

 lina,, Smith says: "While it is occasionally taken as 

 far north as Massachusetts, it is not ordinarily nu- 

 merous north of Chesapeake Bay." In Fishes within 

 Fifty Miles of New York City, 1913, the writer listed 

 it as "Rare September." It appears that the infor- 

 mation at his command at the time was imperfect and 

 that the Croaker occurs in New York Harbor with 

 sufficient regularity to be known to local anglers, and 

 to give the name of "Croaker Grounds" to Flynns 

 Knoll a couple of miles towards Staten Island from 

 Sandy Hook. At times they are caught at Hugue- 

 not, about two miles off shore at Can Buoy No. 3. 



According to Messrs. Andrew Johnstone and P. 

 McCabe the fish occurred this year in much greater 

 numbers than usual, so that four men in four hours' 

 fishing from one boat took as many as 120 individ- 

 uals. According to the same gentlemen the Croaker 

 was present in late July, August and a part of Sep- 

 tember, 1915; they were taken at the bottom with 

 shedder-crab and white-worm bait, also with parts of 

 Spots (Leiostomus) , pieces of Weakflsh and clams. 

 They ran from IY2 to 4 lbs. in weight and 12 to 16 

 inches in length, or about the same size as "school" 

 Weakflsh, and resembled Weakflsh in habits, taking 

 the hook in the same vigorous manner; so that some 

 of the less well-informed fishermen did not distin- 

 guish them from Weakflsh. 



J. T. Nichols, 

 New York, N. Y. 



AQUATIC HABITS OF THE BOX TURTLE 



The Box Turtle (Cistudo Carolina) of the mid- 

 dle section of Long Island has a habit of partly bury- 

 ing itself in the moist sand or mud along the edges 

 of ponds on hot days. Specimens are frequently 

 seen swimming in the water, or resting in the shal- 

 lows with only the head protruding above the sur- 

 face. When alarmed, the turtles often leave the land 



