Motes on Fundulus luciae 



D. R. CRAWFORD 



United States Bureau of Fisheries 



1 



Fundulus luciae 



Baird's Killifish 



This attractive little minnow was first 

 described by Professor S. F. Baird un- 

 der the name of Hydrargyra luciae from 

 a few specimens which he colllected at 

 Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey. His de- 

 scription may be found in the Smithson- 

 ian Report for 1854, but evidently his 

 specimens have disappeared, and nothing 

 further was -known of this minnow until 

 Dr. H. M. Smith, Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries, in the summer of 1890, collected 

 two specimens on St. George Island 

 which is near the mouth of the Potomac 

 River. He has described it under the 

 name of Zygonectes luciae in the Bulle- 

 tin of the U. S. Fish Commission, Vol- 



ume X, for 1890, and pictures it in a 

 drawing on Plate XVIII, which accom- 

 panies his article. Since 1890, nothing 

 further has been added to our knowl- 

 edge, Jordan and Evermann merely 

 changing the name to Fundulus luciae, 

 and using Dr. Smith's description which 

 is sufficient and need not be repeated 

 here. 



The writer had occasion to collect ten 

 specimens of Fundulus luciae while vis- 

 iting Lewisetta, Virginia, across the 

 river from St. George Island, for the 

 purpose of collecting other fishes, and, 

 since very little seems to be known of 

 the habits of this minnow, no excuse 



