SILURIDZ. 99 
25. NOTURUOS FLAVUS, Ra/finesque. 
Yellow Stone Cat—Common Stone Cat. 
. (Figs. 54 and 55.) 
Noturus flavus, Rar. (1818), Am. Monthly Mag. and Critical Review, p. 41; (1820), Ich. 
Oh. 68.—KiIRTLAND (1838), Rept. ZoGl. Ohio, 169, 195; (1846), Bost. Journ. Nat. 
Hist. iv, 336.—SrorerR (1846), Synopsis, 406.—GiLL (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 
Hist. 45.—Copr (1864), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 277; (1869), Journ. Acad. 
Nat. Sci. Phila. 237.—GintueEr (1864), Cat. Fishes, v, 104.—UHLER & LUGGER 
(1876), Fishes Maryland, 151.—JoRDAN (1877), Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y.— 
Noturus luteus, Rav. (1819), Journ. de Physique, 421. 
Noturus occidentalis, Gru (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 45; 1876), Capt. ? Simpson’s 
Rept. 423.—JorRDAN & COPELAND (1876), Check List, 160. 
Noturus platycephalus, GUNTHER (1864), Catalogue Fishes, v, 104.—JoRDAN & COPE- 
LAND (1876), Check List, 160. 
Habitat—Vermont and Canada to Virginia, Ohio Valley and Mis- 
souri Region. 
It is not quite certain which species served as the type of Rafinesque’s 
“flavus”. Three distinct species occur about the Falls of the Ohio, 
flavus, sialis, and miurus. Of these, “flavus” is the most abundant 
in the immediate neighborhood of the river, the others preferring clearer 
water than is found in most of the streams near the falls. Rafinesque 
speaks of his flavus as being entirely yellowish, and as reaching the 
length of a foot. Miurus is never yellowish; and neither miurus nor 
sialis,so far as I know, reach a length of more than six inches. More- 
over, the flavus of Kirtland, Cope, and of most writers, is the spe- 
cies now under consideration. 
N. occidentalis Gill I also consider the same. There is nothing in the 
description to indicate difference, and, on examination of specimens 
supposed to be the original types of occidentalis, I am unable to find any 
distinctive characters whatever. Like Ichthelurus punctatus and Ami- 
urus lividus, the Noturus flavus is a species of wide geographical range, 
and its occurrence in Nebraska is not surprising. 
N. platycephalus Giinther is evidently the same as flavus. N. occiden- 
talis Giinther is based on specimens of Noturus marginatus, sent by the 
Smithsonian Institution to the British Museum, Prof. Gill informs me. 
I have examined specimens, which I refer to flavus, from Saint Law- 
rence River, New York, from Lake Champlain, from the Potomac River, 
from the Ohio River in West Virginia, in Ohio, and in Indiana, from the 
Miami, White, and Wabash Rivers, from the Missouri River, from Lake 
Michigan, and from Platte River. 
