78 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Communipaw creek, on the Jersey side of the harbor of New 

 York. It swims frequently with its long dorsal above the sur- 

 face, in the manner of sharks, and imitates those animals in 

 voracity. Mitchill had a specimen 20 inches long. 



At Woods Hole Mass., according to Dr Smith, the species is 

 quite rare, and few have been seen recently; one was caught in 

 a trap at Menemsha in 1886. 



Genus hexanematichthys Bleeker 



Body moderately elongate, subterete; head depressed, armed 

 with a bony shield above, behind which projects an occipital 

 shield; a smaller, crescent-shaped shield at the base of the dorsal 

 spine; these shields usually exposed but sometimes covered by 

 the skin; skull with a fontanel; mouth moderate, the upper 

 jaw the longer; teeth villiform or granular, in a band in each 

 jaw; teeth in one or two patches each on the vomer and pala- 

 tines, the palatine patches without a backward projecting angle 

 on the inner margin; palatine teeth fixed; barbels six (no nasal 

 barbels), close together, the posterior with a valve; maxillary 

 barbels short, terete; eyes with a more or less free orbital mar- 

 gin, the upper edge sometimes adnate; dorsal fin short, in front 

 of the ventrals, with a sharp spine and about seven rays; adi- 

 pose fin well developed, posteriorly free; caudal fin deeply 

 forked; anal fin short; pectorals with spine; ventral rays six; 

 skin smooth, naked, except on the occipital and nuchal regions, 

 where it is usually confluent with the surface of the bony buck- 

 lers. Species marine. 



42 Hexanematichthys fells (Linnaeus) 



Sea Catfish 



Silurus felis Linneaus, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, 503, 1766. 



Arius milherti Gunther, Cat. Flsli. Brit. Miis. V, 155, 1864. 



Arius equestris Guntiier, 1. c. 173, 1864; Baird & Girard, Iclith. U. S. & 



Mex. Bound. 32, pi. 15, 1859. 

 Arius felis and equestris Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 110, 



1883. 

 Galeichthys felis Smith, Bull. U. S. F. O. XVII, 90, 189S. 

 Hexanematichthys felis Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 47, 



128, pi. XXIII, fig. 53, 1896. 



