aquatic litt 



139 



he kindly invited my attention. There is 

 also an interesting living specimen of the 

 same species, from the same locality, in 

 the possession of Mr. Edward S. Schmid, 

 of Washington, D. C, who has kindly 

 allowed me to examine it. 



While I have seen the specimens of 

 the Austrian form (U. umbra) belong- 

 ing to the United States National Mu- 

 seum, I have not very critically studied 

 them. It is quite nearly related to the 

 species we have here in the United 

 States, and it presents the common gen- 

 eric characters. 



Coming first to the literature of the 

 Umbridae, it is found to be more or less 

 extensive, especially in view of the fact 

 that the family is so very small, and the 

 species contained in it have no economic 

 value whatever. In some waters these 

 Mud Minnows are preyed upon by 

 larger fishes. In the "Zoology of New 

 York," by James E. De Kay (Albany, 

 1842), there is a brief account of 

 Umbra pygmaea (p. 214) ; but the plate 

 is not numbered, and the colored figure 

 of the fish is of no value whatever, the 

 coloring being entirely incorrect ; the 

 fish's form wrong, and the specimen only 

 3.7 cms. long. I have examined all that 

 Jordan and Evermann say in their 

 "Fishes of North and Middle America." 

 In Part IV of that work these authors 

 give a cut of Umbra pygmaea (Fig. 268) 

 which is 10.9 cms. long, and which I take 

 to be a typical example of that species. 

 It agrees with the description given in 

 Part I, page 624, to which reference will 

 be made further on. 



There are good accounts of these 

 Umbrids in the following works, all of 

 which I have carefully read and com- 

 pared : 



1. "A Remarkable Genus of Fishes — 

 the Umbras," by Theodore Gill (Smith- 

 sonian Miscel. Coll., Vol. 45, pub. April 

 11, 1904). Five figures, pp. 295-305. 



This brief paper gives a good cut of the 

 European Umbra (U. umbra), and three 

 of U. pygmaea, of which Fig. 38 is given 

 incorrectly as the Western Umbra 

 (Umbra limi), it being the aforesaid cut 

 from Jordan and Evermann of U. 

 pygmaea. 



2. "Catalogue of the Fishes of New 

 York," by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Bull. 

 60, Z06I. 9, New York State Museum, 

 Albany, 1903 (p. 287). Brief scientific 

 and popular account of the American 

 species of Umbra. 



3. "The Fishes of New Jersey," by 

 Henry W. Fowler. Ann. Rep. New Jer- 

 sey State Museum, 1905, pp. 180-183, 

 pi. 16. Plate 16 is of the Mud Minnow, 

 Umbra pygmaea, an enlargement of Jor- 

 dan and Evermann's figure, brought up 

 to 18 cms. in length (about seven inches), 

 which is much larger than the fish ever 

 grows to be. It gives 38 scales instead 

 of 35, and 12 dorsal rays instead of 13; 

 it has too many anal rays. 



As a matter of fact, none of the de- 

 scriptions of the external characters of 

 these Mud Minnows, as given by the 

 various authors cited above, seem to 

 tally. As already pointed out, Gill fig- 

 ured Umbra pygmaea for Umbra limi. 

 Fowler, who goes quite exhaustively into 

 the external measurements, etc., in U. 

 pygmaea (pp. 180-181), says, among 

 other things: "D II, 12, A III, 6. Scales 

 30 in lateral series to base of caudal and 

 three more on latter," and so on with a 

 lot of measurements. This does not 

 agree with Jordan and Evermann given 

 above. Dr. Tarleton H. Bean calls 

 Umbra pygmaea the "Striped Mud Min- 

 now," and agrees with Jordan and Ever- 

 mann in the number of fin rays and 

 scales. It is not unusual to find these 

 particular points in agreement in U. limi 

 and U. pygmaea. For example, Doctor 

 Bean gives for U. limi D. 14; A. 9., and 

 scales in lateral line 35. 



