386 Roosevelt Wild Life Annals 



Economic Relations. The \'ariegated Stonecat is too small and rare to be of 

 food value. Hay ('94, p. 174) remarks that "it is said to form an attractive 

 species for the aquarium." (Cf. E. Smith, '02, p. 96.) 



References. Baker, '16; Forbes and Richardson, '09; Hay, '94; Hankinson, 

 '13; E. Smith, 02. 



Umbra Limi (Kirtland). Mud M:nnow. The Mud Minnow (Fig. 201) 

 is a little known fish usually found in sluggish creeks, sloughs, marshes and like 

 conditions where there is an abundance of submerged or partly submerged vegeta- 

 tion and considerable bottom mud. Here it moves about and feeds, finds safety 

 and hibernates. In general appearance it is much like a small Bowfin, but is readily 

 distinguished by its short dorsal fin and the absence of the gular plate. In spite 

 of its unattractive habitat it is a fish of considerable beauty, as is revealed in an 

 aquarium, where it lives and feeds readily. It is undoubtedly abundant in Oneida 

 Lake, but the character of its habitat and its way of hiding makes it difiicult to 

 capture, so that our collections have but few of them. It is one of the most 

 adaptable of our fishes, and can probably live under a greater variety of conditions 

 than any of the others except possibly the Eel or the Bullhead. 



Breeding Habits and Life History. Mud Minnows spawn in early spring, in 

 March and April, according to Forbes and Richardson ('09, p. 204), and from 

 March 16 to April 7 at Ithaca, N. Y. (Wright and Allen, '13, p. 5). Abbott 

 ('90, p. 393) and Gill ('04, p. 302) also discuss the breeding habits. Mud 

 Minnows run up into the waters of swift hillside brooks during the breeding 

 time (if these flow into ponds or marshes), going up miniature cascades to seek 

 the most distant parts of streams, where they can be seen lying half hidden among 

 the pebbles and sandy ridges in the bed of the brook. The females appear to 

 run in advance of the males, and the sexes segregate as a preliminary to entering 

 the breeding streams. If creeks are not available they lay their eggs in the ponds 

 or marshes and attach them by their adhesive coats to aquatic plants. On March 

 26, 1921, Hankinson saw a number of Mud Minnows in a small creek tributary to 

 Muskrat Bay, where the creek flowed through open fields of upland. They were 

 evidenth- mi the s])a\vniiig migration. The water temperature was 60° F. 



Ilahilat. Mud Alinntiws are almost always found where water plants are 

 abundant, except at spawning time when they may leave situations of this character 

 for clear rapid streams (Gill, '04, p. 302). In Oneida Lake we took but two of 

 these fish, one (No. 569) among algae and water willow growth over a cobble- 

 sand bottdm at Poddygut Bay, and one (Xo. 51)4) under similar vegetation and 

 bottom conditions at or near the mouth of the stream at \\'est Vienna. There was 

 very little mud at either of these places. We took ten Mud Minnows in four creek 

 collections (Nos. 81, 116, 511, 621). In all cases there was much vegetation, grass, 

 sedge, swamp loose-strife, cat-tails, bulrushes, and other plants, and a mud bottom. 

 One (No. 82) was taken in an isnlated pool near Johnson's Bay, having mud 

 bottom and a growiii (d bulrushes and eat-lails. Tlu' nnly other species found here 

 was the small bullhead, Aiuciiinis nebulosus. 



Abbott ('09, p. 392) and Gill ('04, p. 300) show Ikiw nuich these minmiws 

 depend on nnid for their existence, disa])]iearing into it. tail first, when danger 

 ajiproaches. To catch them nne must, therefore, stir up the mud while ime is 



