2/4 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Cat of Cope is now considered to be the old form of the White Cat. The habits of 

 this species agree with those of other species already mentioned. The name 

 Channel Cat suggests a favorite haunt of the fish. As a food it is highly prized. 



Eugene Smith says this catfish occurs in all the larger streams subject to the 

 tide in the vicinity of New York City. 



It is frequently caught on set lines with liver or killy bait and bites best at 

 night. The flesh is much better flavored than that of A. nebulosus. 



WHITE CAT. 



15. Horned Pout (Aiticiurus nebulosus LeSueur). 



rimdodns catus DEK.AY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 182, pi. 37, fig. 119, 1842. 

 Amiurus nebulosus BEAN, Fishes Penna., 16, pi. 19, fig. 25, 1893. 



This is known as the Common Catfish, Bullhead, Horned Pout, and Minister. 



This species has a wider distribution than the White Cat, its range including 

 New England and extending southward to South Carolina, west to Wisconsin and 

 southwest to Texas. It has also been transferred from the Schuylkill to the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin Rivers, Cal., where it has multiplied so rapidly that it is now 

 one of the most common fishes of those streams. This is the most abundant cat- 

 fish in Lake Erie and its tributaries. The species reaches a maximum length of 18 

 inches and a weight of 4 pounds, but the average size of market specimens is much 

 smaller. In the lower waters of the Susquehanna color varieties of this species are 

 not uncommon. One of them appears to be the same as the Ainiurns inannoratns 

 of Holbrook ; this supposed color variety is found also from Illinois to Florida. The 

 lower Susquehanna has furnished also some singularly colored examples of this fish, 

 distinguished by large areas of jet black with lemon and white. These freaks are 

 among the most interesting and beautiful observed in this family of fishes. 



From Jordan's Manual of the Vertebrates I quote Thoreau's account of the 

 habits of this species : 



