FISHES OF NEW YORK 309 



band, and below this are two short, interrupted dark bars. Two 

 or more short, transverse, dark bars on the caudal peduncle. 



The striped killifish, also known as the banded or striped 

 mummichog, bass mummy, bass fry, mayfish, yellow-tail, and 

 New York gudgeon, is the largest member of its family known 

 on our eastern coast. Its range extends from Cape Cod to 

 Florida. Prof. Cope thinks that in Pennsylvania it probably 

 ascends the Delaware as far as the boundary of the state, and 

 I see no reason to doubt its occurrence even in fresh water. 



The female is usually larger than .the male, and examples 

 measuring 8 inches in length have been recorded. It swarms 

 in shallow bays and salt marshes, and though not used as food, 

 it is extremely important for the subsistence of economic species 

 and is, also, extensively used for bait. The name bass mummy, 

 applied to the species on Long Island, refers to its use in the 

 capture of striped bass. The species breeds in summer, and 

 the young are abundant in shallow water among eel grass and 

 other aquatic plants. 



A permanent resident in Gravesend bay. In winter it inhabits 

 deep, muddy holes at the mouths of creeks. In captivity it is 

 the least hardy of all the marine killifishes. 



154 Fundulus heteroclitus (Linnaeus) 

 Killifish; Mummichog 



Cobitis lieteroclita LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, I, 500, 1766, Charles- 

 ton, S. C. 



Poecilia macrolepidota WALBAUM, Artedi, Gen. Pise. Ill, 11, 1792, Long 

 Island. 



Esox pisciculus MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 440, 1815, New 

 York. 



Esox pisculentus MITCHILL, op. cit 441, 1815, New York. 



Fundulus viridescens DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 217, pi. 31, fig. 99, 1842, 

 New York. 



Fundulus zebra DE KAY, op. cit. 218, 1842, New York. 



Fundulus pteculentus STORER, Hist Fish. Mass. 294, 1867. 



Fundulus heteroclitus GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VI, 318, 1866; JORDAN 

 & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 336, 1883; BEAN, 19th Rep. 

 Comm. Fish. N. Y. 274, pi. XXIII, fig. 30, 1890; Fishes Penna. 86, 

 pi. 28, fig. 52, 1893; 52d Ann. Kept N. Y. State Mus. 98, 1900. 



Fundulus heteroclitus macrolepidotus JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. 641, 1896, pi. CII, fig. 273, male, 1900; MEARNS, Bull. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist. X, 317, 1898, salt creeks along the Hudson. 



