20 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 282 



the dermethmoid (supraethmoid, Kindred, 1919) is broadly forked 

 in both Satan and Pylodictis further suggesting close relationship. 



Uyeno and Miller (1962) indicated other osteological differences of 

 Pylodictis from both Ictalurus and Noturus. 



Genus Noturus Rafinesque 



Noturus Rafinesque, 1818a, p. 41 (original description; type-species, Noturus 

 flavus Rafinesque, by monotypy) ; 1820a, p. 48 (comparison). 



Pimelodon Vaillant. — LeSueur, 1819, p. 155 (probably vernacular and used with the 

 French livrie, thus nonbinominal). — Vaillant, 1896a, p. 28; 1896b, p. 14, pi. 

 24 (name first available, from LeSueur; type-species, Pimelodon insignarius 

 Vaillant [= Noturus insignis (Richardson)], by monotypy). 



Pimelode. — LeSueur, 1820, p. 44 (vernacular; used with the French livrie). 



Schilbeodes Bleeker, 1858, pp. 36, 249, 258 (original description; type-species, 

 Silurus gyrinus Mitchill, by monotypy). — Jordan and Gilbert, 1877b, p. 

 93 (misspelled as Schilbeoides) . 



Rabida Jordan and Evermann, 1896a, pp. 144-146 (original description in key; 

 furiosus, in parentheses, presumably intended as type-species). — Jordan, 

 1920, pp. 473, 566 (misspelled as Rabidus; type-species designated: Noturus 

 furiosus Jordan and Meek); 1923, p. 147 (misspelled as Rabidus). 



The name Pimelodon predates the name Schilbeodes if Pimelodon 

 can be credited to LeSueur as a scientific name. After his description 

 of six species of the genus Pimelodus LeSueur (1819, p. 155) inserted 

 a description, perhaps as an afterthought, of another beginning as 

 follows: "J'indique ici sous le nom de Pimelodon livree. . . ." In an 

 abstract of this paper LeSueur (1820, p. 44) italicized both parts of the 

 name, shortening Pimelodon to the well-known vernacular "Pimelode," 

 a name commonly used for Pimelodus; he did not mention Pimelodon 

 in the abstract. The names of the six species of Pimelodus were con- 

 sistently italicized in both papers as was the French name livree. 

 Pimelodon and most, but not all, of the other vernacular names were 

 not italicized. It is thus apparent that LeSueur coined the word 

 Pimelodon from Pimelodus and intended it only as a temporary 

 vernacular name. Subsequent writers did not mention Pimelodon nor 

 list it as a genus name until Vaillant (1896a,b) published a synonymy 

 and LeSueur's drawing of Noturus insignis under the name Pimelodon 

 insignarius. Because it appears that Pimelodon was originally pub- 

 ished as a vernacular name by LeSueur, it is here accepted as first 

 available nomenclatoriaUy in 1896. The meaning and origin of the 

 word Pimelodon is otherwise unknown. 



GiU (1876, p. 410) used the name Noturi to include the genus 

 Noturus. 



Noturus is compared with the other genera of the family Ictaluridae 

 in table 1. The characters of the genus are: eyes present; body and 

 fins variously pigmented, never entirely unpigmented; dorsal and 

 pectoral fins always with a hard spine at anterior end; adipose fin 



