SILURIDZ. 17 
Ictalurus ccerulescens, GILL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.—Copr (1865), 
Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 85; (1870), Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 489.—JORDAN 
(1874), Ind. Geol. Survey, 222.—GiLxL (1876), Ich. Capt. Simpson’s Exped. 417. 
Ichthelurus cerulescens, COPE (1869), Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. 237. 
Silurus argentinus, Rar. (1820), Quart. Journ. Sci. Lit. Arts London, 50. 
Pimelodus argyrus, Rar. (1820), Ichthyologia Ohiensis, 64, 
Pimelodus furcifer, Cuv. & VAu. (1840), xv, 139.—“ Hyrrt (1859), Denkschr. Akad. 
Wiss. Wien, 16”.—‘‘ KNER, Sitzgsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, xxvi, 421.” 
Ictalurus furcifer, GILL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.—JORDAN (1876), Man- 
j ual Vert. 300. 
Pimolodus gracilis, Houcu (1852), Fifth Ann. Rept. Reg. Univ. Condition State Cabi- 
net Nat. Hist. Albany, 26. 
Synechoglanis gracilis, GILL (1859), Trans. Lye. Nat. Hist. 3 (reprint). 
Ictalurus gracilis, GiLL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.—Copr (1865), Proc. 
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 85.—JorDAN (1876), Man. Vert. 300.—JORDAN & COPE- 
LAND (1876), Check List, 159. 
Pimelopus vulpes, GIRARD (1858), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 170; (1859), U. S. and Mex- 
Bound. Surv. 33. 
Ictalurus vulpes, GILL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.—JoRDAN & COPELAND 
(1876), Check List, 159. 
Pimelodus olivaceus, GIRARD (1858), Pac. R. R. Survey, x, 211. 
Ictalurus olivaceus, GILL (1862), 1. c. 43; (1876), Rept. Ichthy. Capt. Simpson’s Exp. 
417.— JORDAN (1876), Man. Vert. 300.—JoRDAN & COPELAND (1876), Check 
List, 159. 
Synechoglanis beadlei, GiLu (1859), Trans. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 2 (reprint). 
Ictalurus beadlet, GILL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist..43.—JORDAN & COPE. 
LAND (1876), Check List, 159. 
Pimelodus houghit, Girarp (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 159. 
Pimelodus megalops, GIRARD (1859), 1. c. 161 (said to have the eye very large, its diam- 
eter one-third the length of the side of the head). 
Ictalurus megalops, JORDAN & COPELAND (1876), Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist. 159: 
Pimelodus graciosus, GIRARD (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 161. 
Pimelodus hammondii, ABBOTT (1860), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 568. 
Pimelodus notatus, ABBOTT (1860), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 569. 
Ictalurus simpsoni, GILL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43; (1876), Ich. Capt. Simp- 
son’s Exp. 417. 
Habitat.—Northern New York; Canada. Great Lake Region, 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 abundant 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 
