SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 141 



i. Lateral margin of upper jaw formed by the maxillaries; premaxillaries not protractile. 



a. Size very small; jaws short, teeth villiform and of equal size Umbrid^. 



aa. Size moderate to large; jaws produced and flattened, teeth cardiform and of unequal size. 



EsOCIDjB. 



ii. Lateral margin of upper j aw formed by the premaxillaries, which are more or less protractile. 



h. Vent placed well backward; premaxillaries very protractile PcEciLiiD.ffl:. 



hb. Vent placed near throat; premaxillaries sUghtly protractile Amblyopsid.e. 



Family UMBRID^. The .Mud Minnows. 



A family of small fresh-water fishes, interesting on account of their habits 

 and their peculiar distribution; of the three known species, one is found in Aus- 

 tria and two in the United States. The body- is long, but Uttle compressed; the 

 head broad; the lower jaw, premaxillaries, vomer, and palatines have bands of 

 villiform teeth; the broad maxillaries, which form the lateral margins of the 

 upper jaw, have no teeth; the branchial openings are wide, gill-rakers small, 

 branchiostegals 6 to 8; pseudobranchise glandular; no lateral line; scales firm, 

 regular, cycloid, covering body and head; fins small, dorsal single, placed well 

 backward but in front of anal; pectorals close together; air-bladder simple. 

 Oviparous, carnivorous fishes, inhabiting muddy ditches, and ponds and sluggish 

 streams overgrown with weeds; very hardy and able to live buried in mud; 

 sexes similar. 



Genus UMBRA Miiller. Mud Minnows. 



Characters of the genus are shown above.* One species is found locally. 

 (Umbra, shade.) 



119. UMBRA PYGM^A (DeKay). 

 "Mud-fish."; Mud Mmnow. 



Leudecu^ pygmam DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 214; Rockland County, N. Y. 



Umhra pygmtEa, Jordan, 1889&, 126; Tar River at Rocky Mount. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 624, pi. xcix, 



fig. 268. 

 XJmhra limi pygmcEa, Evermann & Cox, 1896, 305; tributary of Neuse River near Raleigh 



Fig. 48. Mud Minnow. Umbra pymoea. 



Diagnosis. — Form compact, oblong, slightly compressed, depth contained 4.5 times in 

 total length; head short and broad, .25 length of body; snout short, equal to eye, which enters 

 4.5 times in length of head; mouth moderate, jaws short; giU-slits wide; gUl-rakers short and 



*An interesting review of these fishes has recently been published by Dr. Theodore GUI under the title 

 "A remarkable genus of fishes — the umbras", in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, quarterly issue, vol. 

 i, 1904. 



