14 FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM ZOOLOGY, VOL. V. 



Color dark slaty blue, belly white, somewhat marbled with 

 brownish; all of the fins very dark. 



.While in the Midland Bridge Company's Camp at Rio Blanco, 

 one of the men caught a catfish 25 inches in length, which I identify 

 with this species. The following are some of the notes made con- 

 cerning it: total length, 25 inches; length to base of caudal 21^ 

 inches; length of head 5^ inches; depth 5^ inches; length of base 

 of anal 6 inches; bridge from snout to dorsal fin not complete; max- 

 illary teeth without backward extension; caudal fin forked, but not 

 sharply, its lobes rounded; inner margin of pectoral fin but slightly 

 serrate; body marked with dark blotches. Large catfish are reported 

 from all of the large rivers which I visited south of Vera Cruz, but 

 the specimen noted above is the only large one I saw. 



9. Amiurus lupus (Girard). BAGRE; PETONTE. 



Pimelodus lupus Girard, Pac. R. R. Sur.,x, 211, 1858; Rio Pecos. 



Amiurus lupus Gimther, Cat., v, 101, 1864. 



Ameiurus lupus Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 1896, 137. 



Rivers of northeastern Mexico and southeastern Texas. (San 

 Juan; Montemorelos ; Linares; La Cruz; Garza Valdez.) 



Head 3^; depth 4^" to 4^! D- *, 6; A. 23 or 24. Body elongate, 

 moderately compressed; head flat above, narrowed forward; upper 

 jaw the longer; interorbital area 2^3 in head; snout 2^3 in head; diam- 

 eter of eye 3 /^ in head ; maxillary barbel reaching almost to tip of pec- 

 toral spine; outer mandibulary barbels reaching to base of pectoral; 

 origin of dorsal nearer tip of snout than adipose fin; dorsal spine 

 rather long and slender, its length i in head, weakly serrate on 

 hinder margin; pectoral spine strong, with 7 to 9 retrose teeth on 

 hinder margin (these becoming somewhat smaller in specimens 12 

 inches in length) ; pectoral spine i ^ in head ; base of anal fin longer 

 than head, $% to 3^ in body; caudal fin deeply forked. 



Color slaty brownish above, lighter below; sides finely punctulate; 

 occasionally a few black spots on side made up of dots; fins dusky 

 with more or less orange base; margin of vertical fins black. Length 

 about 1 8 inches. 



This species very much resembles in color and form Ichthycelurus 

 punctatus, from which it differs in having a somewhat less forked tail, 

 larger eye, and a shorter anal. The supraoccipital is entirely separate 

 from the interspinal buckler which makes it a true Amiurus. This 

 species is abundant in the streams of northeastern Mexico. It lives 

 mostly in river channels. 



