86 REPOKT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



lucius) see Ehrenbaum, Nordisches Plankton, 10, 1909, 376; note on 

 ^ the spawning season, Walke, Bull. U. S. Fish Com. Ill, 1883, 245.) 

 Food: Voracious, carniA^orous; feeds on other fishes of all kinds and on 



small aquatic animals. The young feed on insects and aquatic larvge. 



(Sturtevant, Amer. Nat. V, 1871, 313.) 

 Size: Maximum, 27 inches. 



PCECILIID^. The Killifl.shes. 



53. Fundulus niajalis (Walbaum). May fish; Killifish. 



Geog. Dlst.: Massachusetts to Florida. Common along whole New Eng- 

 land coast from Massachusetts southward. 



Habitat: Along shores, especially sandy beaches. 



Season in R. I.: Probably a permanent resident, but common in shore 

 waters through April and May until late in the fall. Recorded from 

 Providence River, Conimicut, Quonset, Wickford, and Plum Beach. 



Reproduction : Spawns in June and July. Eggs laid in the sand at high 

 tide. (Newman, Biological Bull. XII, 1907, 314.) 



Food: Small Crustacea, especially shrimp and copepods; molluscs, and 

 annelids. 



Size: Four to six inches. Probably becomes mature in second year. 



54. Fundulus heteroclitus (Linnicus). Mummichog; Common Killifish. 

 Geog. Dist.: From Nova Scotia to the Rio Grande. Reported at Canso 



by Cornish (1907). 



Habitat: Shores and brackish waters, in eel-grass and on muddy bottoms, 

 especially at the mouth of fresh- water streams. 



Season in R. I.: Most abundant of the mummichogs, and very common 

 at all seasons along the whole shore. 



Reproduction: Spawns in June and July. Eggs are laid in the sand at 

 high tide near the water's edge. They are large, adhesive, and are laid 

 in masses. They require nine or ten days for hatching. Larval stages 

 are mostly passed in the egg, so that soon after hatching, the yolk-sac 

 is taken inside the body and the fish swims freely and effectually. 

 Probably becomes mature in second year. (Newman, Biological Bulle- 

 tin, XII, 1907, 314.) 



55. Fundulus heteroclitus macrolepidotus (Walbaum). 



This is a variety of the preceding. ^;jVery common everywhere in brackish 

 waters from Maine to Virginia. Specimens from Newport described by 

 LeSueur. (Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. I, 1817, 133.) 



