CATFISH GENUS NOTURUS RAFINESQUE 165 



means of 9.00, 8 French Creek specimens a mean of 9.38, 40 specimens 

 from Shade Creek, the Hocking and Muskingum Rivers a mean of 

 9.23, and 56 specimens from the Scioto River a mean of 9.21; the 

 samples with high means have 9 or 10 pelvic rays. 



There are usually eight soft pectoral rays. The means for the same 

 geographic areas as the pelvic rays are usually 7.97 to 8.03, but the 

 Scioto River population has a mean of 8.16 and the combined samples 

 for Shade Creek and the Muskingum and Hocking Rivers has a 

 mean of 8.10. 



Nomenclature. — The holotype of Noturus eleutherus Jordan is 

 briefly described above. The name applies only to the species currently 

 recognized. Fowler (1945) described Schilbeodes gallowayi from the 

 same region. The type (ANSP 54723) came from the Holston River, 

 above Bluff City, Tennessee. It is a male, 55.5 mm. in standard length, 

 with 14 anal rays, 16+7 + 10 + 12=45 caudal rays, and 6 soft dorsal 

 rays. On each side there are nine pelvic rays, eight soft pectoral rays, 

 six recurved serrae on the posterior edge of the pectoral spine, and two 

 internasal pores. There are 25 moderate dentations on the anterior 

 edge of the left pectoral spine and 23 on the right; 10 preoperculo- 

 mandibular pores on the left and 9 on the right; and 3 gill rakers on 

 the left front arch and 4 on the right. The head length is stepped 3.5 

 times in the standard length and the distance from the end of the 

 adipose fin to the tip of the caudal fin stepped into the distance from 

 the origin of the dorsal fin to the end of the adipose fin is 2.1. The color 

 pattern and the above listed characters are typical of Noturus eleu- 

 therus. 



Jordan (1885, p. 802) listed: "Noturus latifrons Gilbert and Swain, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1885. White River, Indiana." This appears to 

 be a nomen nudum, as no description has been found. A specimen of 

 Noturus eleutherus (USNM 39519 or 36653) is labeled W. White 

 River, Gosport, Indiana, and has a printed label indicating that it is 

 USNM 36653, the type of Noturus latifrons Gilbert and Swain. 



Distribution. — Noturus eleutherus (map 12) seems to be a river 

 species. It occurs in the Ohio River and its various tributaries from 

 French Creek, Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Kentucky to the 

 Wabash River, Indiana, and the Cumberland River, Tennessee. In 

 the upper Tennessee River system it is known from North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, and Georgia. The distribution is apparently discontinuous 

 since eleutherus occurs also in the Ouachita River system of Arkansas 

 and the Red (Mountain Fork) River system of Oklahoma and Arkan- 

 sas. This seeming discontinuity, however, may not be real since the big 

 river faunas are little known. 



The hybrid, Noturus exilis X Noturus miurus, and specimens of 

 A'', placidus, N. stigmosus, N.furiosus, N.flavater, and N. miurus have 

 been improperly recorded as eleutherus. 



