Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/116

MUDGE. 88 i»i<; (1898); Hoikij from Many Hiies (1890); and other works. MUD-HEN. A variant of 'marsh-hen,' some species of eool, galliniile, or rail (qq.v. ). MUD-MINNOW. A small, minnow-like fish of the fniiiily I tiibriihe. closely allied structurally to the pikes. They inhabit weedy streams, bogs, and ditches in the United States, and also in Austria, where they bury themselves in the mud. They are carnivorous. an<l extremely tenacious of life. Often when none can be seen in a pool, a swarm of these little dark green fishes may bo aroused by rakinij through the mud. Two Ameri- can species are known, the Eastern mud-minnow (Umbra pyijmwit) and the Western 'dogfish' ( Umbra Ihiii) . MUD-PUPPY, (ir W ATER-noG. An American salamander of the family Proteidir, characterized by having four toes on each foot and persistent larval gills. This genus was formerly called Menobranehus. Two species inhabit the central parts of the United States, of which the more MUEZZIN. A .MUD-PUPPY. common and widespread is X);cturus maciiJaliis. It reaches the lengtli of one foot, is smooth, slimy, and brown-blotehed, with the tufted gills dark red. These creatures remain mostly among weeds or rocks at the bottom of the water during the daytime, but at night Ihey move about, often with quick eel-like motions (a local name is 'mud- eel'), in search of crayfish, worms, insects, frogs, etc. They spawn in April or May. Other sala- manders are sometimes given the same name, especially the 'axolotl' (q.v.). MUD-SHAD. A useless shad-like fish (Dor- soma (■< ijciliiiiiiiiii) . called also 'gizzard' and 'hickory' shad, which is abundant all along the coast from Cape Cod to Mexico, and also through- out the Mississippi Valley. It grows to a length of about 1.5 inches, and is bluish silvery, the young having :i rormd dark spot at the shoulder. MUDSKIPPER. One of the curious little fishes (three to four inches long) of the goby family and genus Perio|)hthalmus. They are sometimes called 'jumping fishes' or 'leaping fishes,' and abound im the coasts of West Africa, /./.%. '^*^. A MUnSKIPPKII. the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and eastward to Japan. Their remarkable peculiarity is that they will leave the water to visit every place washed by the surf. By the aid of the pectoral and ventral fins and the gill covers, these fishes skip across the damp sand, ascend the roots of mangroves, and run up wet rocks in quest of thes. They are, says Day, essentially mud- dwelling fishes, dark brown in color, "and if placed in a vessel of deep clear water will drown. This ampliibious power of these fishes has been acquired without any essential change in the character of the gills; but the lish is in the habit when out of water of pulling out its cheeks with air, which is held for a short time and then re- newed. Consult: ):y. Fishc.i of liiditi (London, 1878) : Scmpi-r. Animal Life (New York, 1881). MUD-SUNFISH. A small bass (Acanthar- chux /jomotis) of little value as food, numerous in sluggish coastal streams from Xew York to South Carolina. It is dark green in color, with five indistinct blackish stripes lengthwise, and a black ojicriular spot. MUD-TORTOISE, or Ml'd-Turtle. A dark- brown turtle [Cinoslcnium I'ennsylvanicum) with light clots on the head, found from (tnada to Texas, See TERRAPIN. MUD-WASP, or Mud-Dauber. Any one of a group of wasps belonging to the old genus Pe- lopa^us. now Sceliphron. They build nests of mud in sheltered places, choosing the cracks of a barn or fence or some sheltered place under the eaves of any wooden building, entering also dis- used rooms in houses, and sometimes even rooms that are in daily u.se. The nests consist of a varying numlier of mud cells placed side l)y side, usually in a single row, but sometimes in several rows. The cells Ix'forc completion are packed with a food supply for the future young, and tliis consists almost invariably of spiders, as numy spiders being placed in one cell as the cell will hold. A single egg is laid upon the last spider which has been placed in the cell, and tlio larva hatching from the egg eats rapidly, con- suming the abdomens of the spiders first and sul)sequently the remainder of their bo<lies. All of the spiders which have been placed in the cell have been stung ami paralyzed by the parent wasp, but many of them are not really dead wlien the larva reaches them, .fter the egg is laid and the nest is closed up. new cells are constructed by the same female. The mud or clay with which the nests are constructed is brought in little balls by the aid of the wasp's nuindibles, and 20 or more visit.s are required to complete one cell: so that for the construction of a large nest of .56 cells about 1000 visits must 1)0 made by the insect. The larva reaches full growth in a short time, usually ten days or two weeks, and forms a cocoon within the mud cell, the winter being passed in the cocoon, although there may be two or more sununer generations, in which case the summer pupal period is short. The group is a large one, and nuidwasps are common not only in America and in Kurope. but in ln<lia and Australia. Consult: Vnhrp. Insect lAfr (London, 1!>0I ) ; Sharp. Cnmbridqc Snturnl Hislory. vol. vi. (London. 11101) ; Howard. The Insect lioolc (New York. 1002). See also the article V.si" and its bibliography. MUEZ'ZIN, or MUED'DIN (.r. mn'ailh- illiin. one who calls to prayer, from 'arlhdhana. to call to prayer, from 'ailhinii. to hear). The .rabie name of the Mohammedan official attaclied to a mos(pie. whose duty it is to announce the difl'er- ent times of prayer. His chant i'lulhiin) consists