CATFISH GENUS NOTURUS RAFINESQUE 21 



long, its posterior end adnate to the back, sometimes forming a short 

 free flap, and variously connected to, or separated from the upper 

 caudal fin by at most a small notch; caudal fin truncate, rounded, 

 or pointed behind; procurrent caudal rays covered by a thin mem- 

 brane; number of branched (and simple) caudal rays extremely 

 variable; lateral line short; skull arched to greatly depressed; skeleton 

 rather poorly ossified, bones thin; post-temporal bone absent, or 

 reduced and nonfunctional; ectopterygoid narrow, reduced in size; 

 opercle narrow, much longer than broad; teeth present on lower jaw 

 and premaxilla; occipital process very short and narrow, projecting 

 little beyond skull; ossified pectoral radials fused or unfused; pelvic 

 rays usually 8 or 9; gill rakers on the first arch 3 to 10; preoperculo- 

 mandibular pores usually 10 or 11; branchiostegal rays 8 to 12, usually 

 8 to 11; vertebrae variable, 30 to 42; soft dorsal rays 5 or usually 6; 

 soft pectoral rays 5 to 11, usually 6 to 10; sensory canal system 

 continuous on each side, not interrupted; preoperculomandibular 

 canal with four pores anterior to outer mental barbel, its anterior 

 end usually widely separated from the canal of the opposite side; 

 infraorbital canal bending upward and slightly anteriorly behind eye 

 (pi. 1, fig. 1), with seven pores; first pore of supraorbital canal in front 

 of and adjacent to anterior naris; air bladder always present, mod- 

 erately long to Uttle longer than broad, never with a posterior chamber; 

 epurals typically one, sometimes two; hypurals normally six (1-3 

 below -f- 4-6 above), but modally seven (1-3 below + 4-7 above) in 

 three species. Other skull and skeletal characters are much like 

 those of Ictalurus which has been described by Kindred (1919) and 

 McMurrich (1884). 



The principal reviews of the genus are by Jordan (1877d) containing 

 a moderately good summary of the recognized forms and characters, 

 which is most useful in identifying the newly described species; 

 Swain and Kalb (1883), giving some new information but introducing 

 confusion; and Jordan and Evermann (1896a), employing a nomen- 

 clature that for the most part still holds today. Characters and 

 distributions were presented for some species by Hubbs and Raney 

 (1944), but these authors made unnecessary changes in nomenclature. 



Information on the natural history and morphology of the species 

 of Noturus is sketchy. Some of the principal, yet often brief, contri- 

 butions deal with: food habits (Curd, 1960; Forbes, 1880b, 1888a, 

 1888b; Langlois, 1954; Pearse, 1915, 1918, 1921); spines, poison, and 

 poison glands (Bu-khead, 1967; Reed, 1900, 1907, 1924a, 1924b); 

 parasites (Anthony, 1963; Bangham, 1941a, 1941b, 1946; Bangham 

 and Hunter, 1939; Bangham and Venard, 1942; Fischthal, 1947, 

 1950, 1953, 1956; Larson, 1966; Van Cleave and Mueller, 1934); 

 reproduction (R. M. Bailey, 1938; Fowler, 1917b; Greeley, 1929, 



