80 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the head to the dorsal spine; mouth small, terminal, the upper 

 jaw longer; teeth subulate, in a short band on each jaw; dorsal 

 fin high, with one long spine and usually six rays; adipose fin 

 over posterior part of anal; anal fin long, with 25 to 35 rays; 

 ventral fins each with one simple and seven branched rays; 

 pectoral fins each with a stout spine, retrorse serrate within, 

 and about nine rays; caudal fin elongate, deeply forked, the 

 lobes pointed, the upper the longer. Coloration pale or silvery, 

 usually with dark spots on the sides. Fresh waters of North 

 America, specially in river channels and ripples in large streams. 



43 Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) 

 Channel Cat; Spotted Cat 



Silnrns punctatus Rafinesque, Am. Month. Mag. 359. Sept. 1818, /?(7e 



Jordan. 

 Ictahirvs pnvctatvs Jordan, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist. 95, 1876; Man. 



Vert. 300, 1876; Jordan & Gilbert. Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 108, 



1883; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 134, pi. XXV, fig. 



58, 1896. 

 Amiwits caiida-ftircatus Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. V, 102. 1864. 



The body of the spotted catfish is rather long and slender, the 

 depth contained five times in the length without caudal and 

 equal to the length of the dorsal spine. The head is moderate, 

 convex above, its length being slightly less than one fourth 

 the total length. The maxillary barbels are very long, longer 

 than head; eye moderate, five and one half in head; pectoral 

 spine two thirds of length of head; humeral process long and 

 slender, one half the length of pectoral spine; adipose fin well 

 developed; caudal deeply forked. The least depth of the caudal 

 peduncle equals one half the depth of body at last dorsal ray. 

 D.I, 6; A. 24; V. I, 8. 



This species is variously styled the channel cat, white cat, 

 silver cat, blue cat and spotted cat. It is found over a vast 

 extent of country comprising the Mississippi and Ohio valleys 

 and the Great lakes region. In the eastern states it is absent 

 from streams tributary to the Atlantic, but occurs from Ver- 

 mont southward to Georgia, westward to Montana and south- 

 westward to Mexico. In Pennsylvania it is limited to the Ohio 

 and its affluents. 



