Jordan and Evcnnann. — Fishes of North America. 2789 



The eel cat rarely attains a greater weight than 5 pounds, and usually 

 does not exceed 3 pounds. Its llesh is lirni and of excellent flavor. The 

 spawning season appears to be during the spring, as several of the indi- 

 viduals examined were in mature spawning condition.* Lower Missis- 

 sippi Valley; thus far known only from the Atehafalaya Kiver, Louisiana 

 and the Ohio Kiver at liouisville. {ain/uiUa, the generic name of the eel.) 



Iclalurus anguilla, Evehmann & Kendall, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. 1897 (Feb. 9, 1898), 

 125, pi. 6, fls. 1, Atehafalaya River, Louisiana. (Type, No. 48788. Coll. Evenuann &. 

 Chamberlam.) 



Recent studies of the catiishes of the Lower Mississippi Valley by Dr. 

 Evermann have shown that the most abundant and mcjst important spe- 

 cies of catfish in that region is I(taJnrus furcaiua (Le Sueur), and not 

 Ameiurns laciistris (Walbaum), as has hitherto been supjiosed. The lar<»-e 

 specimen described by Dr. Bean as Amiiuus 2)07i(lerosus is an Ictalurits (as 

 shown by the skeleton now in the United States National Museum) and 

 apparently /. fiircalu.s. The common names "Great Fork-tailed Cat," 

 "Mississippi Cat," and " lilue Cat" all belong to I. fnrcaUts. 



Page 138. The species called Ameiurus dinjesii belongs to the genus Vil- 

 lariKti, Rutter. 



Page 142. After Ameiurus niyrllahris add: 



77(a). VILLAUIUS, Paitter. 



Yillarius, Kutter, I'roc. Cal. Ac. Sci., sor. 2, vol. vl 1896, 256 (pricei). 



Allied to Ameiurus, differing in the presence of scattered cilia on the 

 sides. Backward process from occijiital short, broad, emaiginate, con- 

 nected by ligament with the first interspinal buckler; in adults the dis- 

 tance between this process and the buckler is e(iual to the length of the 

 former; in young examples the process overlaps the keel on tbe under- 

 side of the buckler. Head narrow, width of intermaxillary band of teeth 

 ^ of head; caudal deeply forked, the ujiper lobe the longer; barbels long, 

 those of the maxillary extending past the gill opening. Sides with scat- 

 tered hair-like cirri ; these are very noticeable under a. lens, but not readily 

 distinguished by the naked ej'e. This genus differs from all others of the 

 family in having hair-like cirri on the sides. It differs from Jctalurus in 

 having the occipital process and the interspinal buckler widely separated 

 and connected by ligament; from Ameiurus in having a narrow head and 

 a deeply forked caudal. Two species known, the following and ]'iUavius 

 dugesii (Bean), {villus, a hair.) 



* This species is well known to the fishermen of the Atehafalaya Eiver, by whom it is 

 usually called the "eel cat," though the name "willow cat" is sometimes applied to it. 

 It was ex^ihiined by the fishermen that the name " eel cat" was given on account of the 

 long feelers (i. e., barbel.-)) and the name "willow cat" because it is most frequently 

 found about the roots of willow trees. The eel cat is not an abundant si^ecies in the 

 Atehafalaya River. During six days (April 19-24) spent at Morgan City several hun- 

 dred catfish were examined at the tliree fish liouses, and tbe total number of eel cats seen 

 was fewer than twenty-five. The fishenncn report that thi.s iiroportion is about as great 

 as at any time of the year. Of the four commercial species of catfishes handled on this 

 river the most abundant oneis the blue cat (Ictaluntefinc^ittn), and the next is the yel- 

 low cat or goujou {Laptops olivaris) ■. the eel cat comes next and the sjjotted cat (Ictalun<s 

 pvnctatus) last. The blue cat and the yellow cat probably constitute 98 per cent of the 

 entire catch. 



