MUD MINNOW. 913 
titute of fish, will perhaps yield a number of mud fish on stirring up the 
mud at the bottom and drawing a seine through it. Ditches in the 
prairies of Wisconsin, or mere bog-holes, apparently affording lodgment 
to nothing’ beyond tad-poles, may thus be found filled with Melanurus.” 
It, however, is fond of the muddy bottoms of clear, quiet waters, and is 
seldom found in streams which are constantly turbid. 
The name Dog fish, frequently applied to the species, comes from its 
resemblance to the young of Amia calva, and many fishermen maintain 
stoutly the identity of the two. The entire dissimilarity of the dorsal 
fins of Amia and Umbra will separate them at sight. | 
The Mud-minnow of the coast streams from New York southward, 
shows some differences from the Mud-minnow of the Great Lake Region, 
and is possibly a different species, Umbra pygmexa, (DeKay) Bean. 
OY -O 
PAGE Ya GV iSO CH Dae eh Ey Pl Kes. 
Body elongate, not elevated, more or less compressed ; head long; the snout much 
prolonged and depressed; mouth very large; its cleft forming about half the length of 
the head ; lower jaw the longer; upper jaw not protractile, most of its margin formed 
by the maxillaries, which are quite long and provided with a supplemental bone; pre- 
maxillaries, vomer, and palatines with broad bands cf strong, cardiform teeth, which 
are more or less movable; lower jaw with strong teeth of different sizes; tongue with 
a band of emall teeth; head naked above; cheeks and opercles more or less scaly ; gill- 
openings very wide; gill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus; gill-rakers tuber- 
cle-like, toothed ; branchiostegals 12-20; scales small; lateral line weak, obsolete in 
young specimens, developed in the adult; dorsal posterior, opposite and similar t 
anal; caudal fin emarginate; pectoral fins small, inserted low; ventrals rather post- 
erior; vent normal; no adipose fin; no barbels; stomach not cecal, without pyloric 
appendages; pseudobranchix glandular, hidden; air-bladder simple. Fishes of mode- 
rate or large size inhabiting the fresh waters of the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and 
North America. Genus one; species about six, one of. them cosmopolitan, the rest all 
‘confined to America. The species are all noted for their greediness and voracity. 
GENUS 58. ESOX. Linnezus. 
Esox, LINNZZUS, Systema Nature, 1758 (lucius), 
Lucius, RAFINESQUE, Indice d’Ittiol. Sicil., 1810 (luctus). 
Picorellus, RAFINESQUE, Ich. Oh., 1820, 70 (vitiatus). 
Muscalongus, ‘JORDAN, Klippart’s Second Rept, Ohio Fish Commr., 1878, 92 (nobdilior). 
Type, Hsox lucius, L. 
Ktymology, Latin, Esox, a pike, probably from isos, equal, oxus, sharp. 
The characters of the genus are included above. There are three sections of the 
genus which may be defined as follows: An 
Picorellus, RAFINESQUE.—Branchiostegals 12 to 14; cheeks as well as opercles entirely 
scaly ; species of generally small size, greenish, barred or reticulated with darker 
(species, salmoneus). 
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