298 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. VII. 



of snout 1.3 to 1.8 in body; pectorals broad, 1.6 to 2.0 in head; ven- 

 trals small; caudal peduncle deep, 1.3 to 1.6 in its length; caudal 

 fin rounded. 



Color of upper parts dull brownish olive mottled with black ; sides 

 with about 14 indefinite narrow transverse bars of dark color, the 

 interspaces bluish forward; breast, belly, and under sides of head 



Fig. 55. Mud Minnow. 



Umbra limi (Kirtland). (After Forbes and Richardson.) 



yellowish; a large black blotch-lik? bar at end of caudal peduncle; 

 a black stripe across cheek and through the eye to the snout; fins 

 plain olive-green. 



Length 4 inches. 



This fish inhabits muddy ponds and streams from Minnesota to 

 Quebec and the Ohio River. 



Artesian Overflow, Beach, Illinois; Des Plaines River, Berwyn, 

 Illinois; Lagoon, South Chicago, Illinois; Salt Creek, Lyons, Illinois; 

 Willow Springs, Illinois; Hickory Creek, Alpine, lUinois; Lagoon, 

 Buffington, Indiana; Lagoon, Clark Junction, Indiana; Lagoon, 

 Edgemoor, Indiana. 



Family Pw^eiliHlu'; 



The Killifishes. 



Body elongate, the head depressed, the posterior half compressed; 

 scales large, cycloid ; head scaly; mouth small, terminal, the premax- 

 illary extremely protractile ; fins without spines ; caudal fin not forked ; 

 gill membranes connected, free from the isthmus; branchiostegals 

 4 to 6; gill rakers short; dorsal fin single, on posterior half of body; 

 ventral fins abdominal; stomach siphonal, without pyloric append- 

 ages; air bladder simple, often wanting; some species ovoviviparous; 

 size small. 



