6io 



TELEOSTEI 



CHAP. 



various freshwater deposits in Europe as far back as the 

 Oligocene. E. lepidotus, of which very perfect specimens have 

 been found in the Upper Miocene beds of Oeuingen in Baden, 

 differs from the living species in its much larger scales and in 

 the greater approximation of the ventral and anal fins, two 

 characters in which it approaches Umbra. Only two species of 

 the latter are known : U. crameri (" Hundsfisch "), from the 

 stagnant waters of Austria-Hungary, and U. limi (" Mud-Fish "), 

 living in swamps and ditches in Canada and the north-eastern 

 United States, often remaining imbedded in the mud of prairie 

 sloughs and bos-holes. 



FIG. 369. Distribution of the Esocidae. 



Fam. 5. Dalliidae. The genus Dallia, with a single species 

 inhabiting the streams and ponds of Alaska and Siberia, is related 

 to Umbra, but differs in the very thin and papery skeleton, with 

 the post-temporal imperfectly ossified and the pectoral fin without 

 pterygials or actinosts. The dorsal fin is far back and opposite 

 to the anal, as in the Pike. The ventral fins are composed of 

 three rays only, and the pectorals, which have a somewhat fleshy 

 base, have as many as 36. The scales are extremely small, and 

 partly imbedded in the skin. The Black-Fish, D. pectoralis, 

 abounds in Sphagnum ponds, feeding on plants and worms, and 

 forming the chief food of the natives of some parts of Northern 

 Alaska, where, with the exception of the Salmonids, it is the only 

 freshwater Fish. Turner, its discoverer, says its vitality is extra- 



