FAMILY CYPRINIDA — FUNDULUS. 217 
body. Pectorals broad and pointed. Ventrals small; their tips reaching nearly to the vent. 
Anal long, placed under the posterior part of the dorsal. Caudal oblong, rounded. 
Color. Dusky greenish on the back; darker on the head above. Sides brassy yellow tinged 
with green, becoming lighter beneath. Along the sides are faint indications of dusky bars, 
which, on the tail, become distinctly marked black bars, or lines of interrupted black dots. 
There are also from two to five irregular longitudinal dusky stripes of various lengths ; more 
usually two short interrupted stripes, and two longer continuous stripes, which usually stop 
short near the distinct caudal bars. Dorsal and anal with numerous white dots. 
Length, 1:0 - 3:0. 
Fin rays, D, 14; PB. 153 Ve6; A. WseC223: 
‘This little fish presents much variety in its markings: the transverse bars on the sides of 
the body are frequently obsolete ; the stripes are irregular and often obsolete, their places 
being indicated by dots or abbreviated lines. In all the specimens which I have seen, the 
black bars across the tail were always persistent, and this is perhaps its most striking charac- 
teristic. 
This species abounds in all our salt-water creeks and bays. Its popular name is derived 
from its abundance in creeks and estuaries, which our Dutch ancestors termed “kills.” It is 
used merely as bait for other fishes. From the similarity of name, I should almost be inclined 
to suspect this to be the Cobztis mazalis of Schneider, which is cited by Valenciennes as a 
synonime of his Cyprinodon flavulus. 
THE BIG KILLIFISH. 
FUNDULUS VIRIDESCENS. 
PLATE XXXI. FIG. 99. 
Kilifish. Scuaprr, Beobachtungen der Naturforsch. &c. Vol. 8, p. 172. 
Characteristics. Greenish above ; pale beneath, without stripes or bars. Caudal nearly even, 
rounded. Length 3 — 5 inches. 
Description. Body elongate, cylindrical, flattened above, and much compressed on the sides 
of the tail. Scales large, orbicular, with strongly impressed concentric strie ; very large on 
the head, extending to the end of the snout, and covering the opercles. A central one on the 
summit of the head, with its entire margin free. Lateral line obscure. Head very small, 
flattened above. Eyes large, distant. Nostrils form an oblong slit just anterior to the orbits, 
and in a line with their upper margin. Several mucous pores about the head and along the 
base of the preopercle. Mouth small, protractile, with a somewhat vertical aspect. A single 
row of long slender crowded subequal and slightly recurved teeth in front on the lower jaw, 
and several series of minute teeth behind ; a similar disposition in the upper jaw. Two round 
patches of blunt teeth in the pharynx. 
Fauna — Parr 4. 28 
