76 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY II. 



2. ICHTH^LURUS ROBaSTUS, Jordan, sp. nov. 



Robust Channel Cat. 

 (Figs. 3 and 4.) 

 Ictahirus furcatus, Nelson (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50. 



Habitat. — Ohio and Mississippi Eivers. 



This is a large robust species said to be not uncommon in the Ohio 

 and Mississippi Rivers, and which seems to have been thus far con- 

 founded with the related I. furcatus. From that species it differs obvi- 

 ously in the shorter anal fin, which has 27 to 30 rays, and forms but 

 one-fourth of the length of "the body, without the caudal. It is also a 

 stouter fish, with a larger head and a more elevated dorsal region. 

 Prom I. punctatus this species differs notably by the anterior position 

 of the eyes and by the greater elevation of the dorsal region. Old speci- 

 mens have the profile somewhat concave as in I. furcatus. 



The type is a large specimen, about 18 inches long, numbered 20056 

 in the National Museum. The record of the locality is lost. Another 

 specimen, figured in this paper, was sent me by Prof. S. A. Forbes, 

 from the Ohio River at Cairo. Professor Forbes thinks it common in 

 the Lower Ohio and Mississippi, but that it rarely ascends the Illinois 

 and other tributary rivers. 



3. ICHTHiELURCrS PUNCTATUS, {Raf.) Jordan. 



Blue Cat— White Cat— Silver Cat— Channel Cat. 



(Figs. 5 and C.) 



Silurus punctatus, Raf. (1818), Amer. Monthly Mag. and Critical Review, Sept. 359. 

 Ictahirus jmnctatus, JoHPAN (1B76), Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist. 95 ; (1876), Manual 

 of Vertebrates, 300. — Joudax & Copeland (1876), Check List iu Bull. Buff. 

 Soc. Nat. Hist. 159.— Jokdan (1877), Annals Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. — . —Nelson 

 (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50. 

 Fimelodus caudafui-catus, Le Sueur (1819), M^inoires du Musdum, v, 152. 

 Amiurus caudafurcatus, GUxtheu (1864), Catalogue of Fishes, v, 102. 

 Silurus macutatus, Raf. (1820), Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Arts, 

 Londou, 48 (et var. eryihroptera, p. 49). 

 Pimelodus (Ictalurua) maculatus, Raf. (1820), Ichtbyologia Ohiensis, 62. 

 Silurus pallidus, Raf. (1820), Quart. Jouru. Sci. Lit. Arts London, 49 (et var. margi- 

 natus, lateralis, leucoptcra). 

 Pimelodus pallidus, Raf. (1820), Ich. Oh. 63.— Kirtland (1638), Report Zool. Ohio, 

 169, 194. 

 Silurus cerulesccns, Raf. (1820), Quart. Journ. Sci. Lit. Arts London, 49 (et var. melan- 

 urus). 

 Fimelodus ceruJescens, Raf. (1820), Ich. Ohiensis, 63. — Kirtland (1833), Rept. 

 Zool. Ohio, 169, 194; (1846), Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist, iv, 332.— Storer (1846), 

 Synopsis Fishes N. A. in Mem. Nat. Acad. Sci. 405. (All these descriptions re- 

 fer more or less to Amiurus nigricans). 



