82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The great catfish has a stout body, a broad and much de- 

 pressed head and a wide mouth. The depth of the body is con- 

 tained five times in total length, without caudal; the head 

 equals more than one fourth of this length. Maxillary barbel 

 as long as anal base, almost as long as the head; eye rather 

 small; dorsal base short, one half the hight of fin; adipose fin 

 well developed; caudal not deeply forked; pectoral spine as 

 long as dorsal spine, one half the length of head; least depth 

 of caudal peduncle less than one half the greatest depth of 

 body. D. I, 5 to 6; A. 25; V. I, 8. 



This is the great fork-tailed cat, Mississippi cat, Florida cat, 

 flannel-mouth cat and great blue cat of various writers. It is 

 also called mud cat in the St Johns river, Fla. The species is 

 highly variable, as we should suppose from its wide distribu- 

 tion. 



In 1879 Prof. Spencer F, Baird received from Dr Steedman 

 of St Louis a Mississippi river catfish weighing 150 pounds and 

 measuring 5 feet in length. The writer described this fish as a 

 new species related to the great black catfish of the Mississippi 

 valley, Amiurus nigricans. At the present time it is 

 somewhat doubtful whether or not this is merely an overgrown 

 individual of the species under consideration, and the matter 

 must remain in doubt till smaller examples of Amiurus 

 ponderosus have been obtained. 



The great fork-tailed cat is a native of the Great lakes and 

 the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and in the southern states its 

 range extends southward to Florida; northward it ranges to 

 Ontario. 



This catfish reaches a weight of 100 pounds or more, and, if 

 it include the giant form above referred to, we may place the 

 maximum weight at more than 150 pounds. Dr Steedman was 

 informed by an old fisherman that the heaviest one he had 

 ever seen weighed 198 pounds, but it is doubtful that such large 

 individuals are to be taken at the present time. In Lake Erie 

 this species usually weighs from 5 to 15 pounds, and the largest 

 specimens reach 40 pounds. 



