SILURID^. 77 



Maluriis ewrulescens, Gill (1802), Proc. Boat. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.— Copr (1805). 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 85; (1870), Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 489.— Jdudan 

 (1874), lud. Geol. Survey, 22-2.— Gill (1876), Ich. Capt. Simpson'a Esped. 417. 

 Ichthceluriis cccnilcscens, Cope (1869), Joura. Acad. Nat. Sci. 237. 

 Silurtis argentinus, Rap. (1820), Quart. Journ. Sci. Lit. Arts London, 50. 

 Pimelodus argrjrus, Rak. (1820), Ichtbyologia Obiensis, 04, 



Pimclodus furcifcr, Cuv. &. Val. (1840), xv, i:W.— " Hyrtl (1859), D>iiikscbr. Akad. 

 Wiss. Wieu, IG".— " KxEit, Sitzgsber. Akad. Wiss. Wicn, xx.vi, 421." 

 Jc<a/(tr«8 /«rc|/er, Gill (1832), Proc. Bo8t. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.— Joudax(187G), Man- 

 ual Vert. 300. 

 Pimolodas gracilis, Hough (1852), Fifi,b Ann. R^pt. Rer;. Univ. Condition State Cabi- 

 net Nat. Hist. Albany, 26. 

 St/necJioglanis gracilis, Gill (1859), Trans. Lye. Nat. Hist. 3 (reprint). 

 Ictalurus gracilis, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43. — Cope (1865), Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 85.— Jordan (1876), Man. Vert. 300.— JoitDAN & Cope- 

 land (1876), Cbeck List, 159. 

 Pimelopus vulpes, Giuard (1858), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, Pbila. 170 ; (1859), U. S. and Mex- 

 Bound. Surv. 33. 

 Ictalurus vulpes. Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.— Jordan &, Copelaxd 

 (1876), Cbeck List, 159. 

 Pimelodus olivacetis, Girard (1858), Pac. R. R. Survey, x, 211. 



Ictalurus olivaceus, Gill (1862), 1. c. 43; (1876), Rept. Ichtby. Capt. Simpson's Exp. 

 417. — Jordan (1876), Man. Vert. 300.— Jordan & Copeland (1876), Cbeck 

 List, 159. 

 Synechoglanis headlei, Gill (1859), Trans. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 2-(reprint). 



Ictalurus headlei, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.— Jordan & Cope. 

 land (1876), Check List, 159. 

 Pimelodus houghii, Giraru (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 159. 

 Pimelodus megalops, Gikai;d (1859), 1. c. 161 (said to have tbe eye very largo, its diam- 

 eter oue-tbird tbe lengtb of tbe side of the bead). 

 Ictalurus megalops, Jordan &. Copeland (1876), Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist. 159. 

 Pimelodus graciosus, Girard (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 161. 

 Pimelodus hammondii, Abbott (1860), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbi;a. 568. 

 Pimclodus notatus, Abbott (1860), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 569. 

 Ictalurus simpsoni, Gill.(1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43; (1876), Icb. Capt. Simp- 

 son's Exp. 417. 

 Habitat.— ^^orthern New York,; Canada. Great Lake Eegion, through- 

 out Mississippi Valley, Nebraska, Kansas, to Georgia, Florida, and 

 Texas. 



The synonymy of this species is not altogether creditable to workers 

 in American ichthyology. It is one of our most abuudaut and widely 

 diffused fishes, and one even less subject to variations than species of 

 such wide distribution usually are. And yet, if the above synonymy 

 is correct, we have twenty-three different specific and varietal names 

 applied to it. It would seem as if every naturalist who had obtained 

 a Channel Cat was sure that such a Cat-fish, so slender, so clean, and 

 so white, must surely be unknown to science, or else he would have 

 heard of it before. As a result of this, nearly every writer on American 

 fresh-water fishes has one or more nominal species based on some 



