35 



Lucania parva (Bd. & Gir.). 

 Rain-water Fish. 

 Body deep ; male dark olive, female lighter. Dorsal dusky 

 orange with black spot at base, other fins lighter orange mar- 

 gined with black. The fins of the female are plain. D. 10- 

 12, A. 10-11. Scales 26-8. Length two inches. 



Along the coast from Long Island, southward ; occasionally 

 found nearly land-locked in ditches. 



Family Umbridae. 



Mud Minnows. 



Body fusiform, head large, somewhat blunt, both scaled. 

 Fins all soft-rayed, very mobile, caudal round, fan-shaped, 

 pectorals and ventrals narrow. Mouth quite large, with villi- 

 form teeth. Stomach siphonal, no pyloric appendages, air 

 bladder simple. There are only three species known, all 

 closely allied but far apart in locality. Two are found in the 

 eastern United States from Carolina to Ontario and west to 

 Minnesota. The other is found in a limited area of Austro- 

 Hungary. In habits they are alike, but our species appear to 

 be hardier and less given to fungus growths than the European 

 U. cramer i. 



Umbra pygmaea (DeKay). 

 Mud Minnows ; Dogfish; also called " Rockfish." 



This species is of a generally olivaceous color with pale 

 interrupted lines of cuneiform like figures, a dark caudal bar ; 

 lower jaw dark ; some are much paler than others. D. 14, A. 

 9. Scales 35-15. Length S}4 to 4 inches. 



The dogfish is a most peculiar fish, as voracious as a pike 

 and as tough-lived as a catfish. It requires only little water 

 and can often be dug from the moist mud of ditches, the water 

 of which has evaporated. None may be found in a stream, 

 but the puddles and musk-rat holes alongside may be full of 

 them. It is a good deal of an air breather, rising to the sur- 

 face to gulp in air and then descending again, in the fashion of 

 the paradise fish. In the aquarium it is very hardy and apt to 

 annoy other species by driving them around and attacking their 

 fins. When exposed to the air in freezing weather, it succumbs 

 almost instantly, also when put into water containing much 



