Oral Gestation in the Gaff-Topsail Catfish, Felichthys Felis. 29 



the embryology of the fish. However, the work went on, and grad- 

 ually the series of eggs was pushed both forward and backward until 

 now there is a complete series illustrated by photographs or drawings 

 from invagination to the adult embryo. 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNT. 



The brief historical account herein contained will be confined to the 

 gaff-topsail. 



The first scientific man who seems to have had knowledge of this 

 curious habit of the gaff-topsail was S. C. Clarke. In the American 

 Angler for December 15, 1883, he says of the gaff-topsail in Florida: 

 "The eggs of this species are golden yellow, and of the size of grapes, 

 which they much resemble, in bunches of ten or twelve. The fisher- 

 men say that this catfish carries its young, when hatched, in its mouth." 

 The following year this statement was republished in " Fishes of the 

 East Atlantic Coast" by Van Doren and Clarke. 



In 1883, and again in 1887, John A. Ryder makes brief mention of 

 the fact that male catfish of the genus Aelurichthys (an old synonym 

 for Felichthys) carry the large eggs (0.75 to 0.875 inch in diameter) 

 in the hinder part of their mouth-cavities until the young are hatched. 

 Unfortunately he gives no clue to the locality from which the eggs 

 in his possession came. 



Last of all comes Holder's (1904) brief mention of this habit in his 

 delightful book of fishing stories entitled "The Boy Anglers." On 

 page 175 is the following interesting statement: 



"Tom . . . secured ... a gaff -topsail catfish .... As the boatman 

 attempted to unhook it, he showed the boys its eggs packed on the inside of 

 its mouth, where they are carried until they hatch; and even the young fish 

 are protected in this way until they can care for themselves. " 



In 1908 I read a paper on this habit of this fish before the North 

 Carolina Academy of Science, but not being ready to give out my 

 observations, the title only was reported in the proceedings. In 1912, 

 in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science for 1911, Section F, I published a short abstract giving the 

 essential facts as to this habit, size of mouth-cavity, size, number of 

 eggs, etc. Later I published the 1916 paper. 



There is now to be given an account about which there is some 

 doubt, but it seems best to insert it. Bloch (1794) figures (plate 365) 

 a catfish from American waters which he calls Silurus bagre. This 

 fish the Eigenmanns (1890) identify with Felichthys felis. In a former 

 paper (Gudger, 1916) the question of identity has been discussed and 

 there seems to be little reason to doubt that this identification is correct 

 However, the point of interest just here is that on this same plate 

 (365) Bloch has figured a little catfish sitting on a large yolk with its 



