96 The American Angler 
pose fin and very wide mouth, will be 
found from: the Great Lakes to Vir- 
ginia, thence to Texas; the small black 
catfish—A mzeurus melas—which  spec- 
ies, although subject to great variation, 
may be identified by its color, blackish 
or nearly so, with the lower parts of 
the belly of a bluish white; it is found 
from New York westward, in the Mis- 
sissippi and Ohio valleys and in the 
Great Lakes; it 
grows beyond a foot in length, and has 
one very strong and sharply-pointed 
seldom, or never, 
spine and six rays in the dorsal fin, 
andsans the -pectoral there are, one 
strong spine and seven rays; the tail 
is truncate, looking as if it had been 
lopped off with a pair of sheers. 
In addition the 
waters as, the above-named species, 
the angler will find the 
catfish—A mzeurus vilgaris—which ran- 
to, and in same 
long-jawed 

ges through the Great Lake region 
westward to Manitoba, and occasion- 
ally as far south as the Ohio river. It 
may be known by its slightly project- 
ing lower jaw, square caudal and well- 
rounded anal fin. Dr. Jordan surmises 
this species to be, very likely, a variety 
only of the common bullhead—A. xedbu- 
fosus. A portrait, colored as in life, 
will also be given of A. nebulosus, and 
it will strikingly illustrate the great 
variations of color that cccur in the 
common bullhead and, because of the 
conditions under which the portrait 
fish was captured, it is in strong evi- 
dence that fish adapt themselves quickly 
to a new habitat, speedily conforming 
their habits tothe demands of a changed 
environment. When the gate at the 
foot of Greenwood Lake is raised, the 
water rushes into the outlet in great 
volume, with attendant fume of spray 
and mist, the former sparkling and 
spreading at-least ten feet above and 
below the gate; the latter rising nearly 
to the top of the parapet. Once 
eastern side of the gate arow of stones, 
about three feet in heighth, has been 
placed, which runs, at an angle, about 
fifteen feet, and then meets another 
ridge of loose rocks that has been built 
outward from the west bank, formingsa 
V shaped dam. The construction of 
this old fish-weir evidently occurred 
years ago, before the laws forbade the 
erection of these fish-killing devices. 
After leaving the gate, the confined 
water boils and tosses over this fifteen 
feet of space, and it was in this wild 
turmoil of the current that I caught, 
with the feathers, five small-mouthed 
black bass, and, wishing to make sure 
of another one to complete the portrait 
which the artist was painting, within 
ten feet of the water, a common garden 
worm was put on the hook and the lure 
cast into the white water, right under the 
It was taken instantly by a com- 
mon bullhead—dA. nedulosus. We ques- 
tion if another fish of this species has 
ever before been caught under similar 
conditions. 
The catfish known locally in Ohio 
and other states as the ‘‘ marbled cat,” 
will be frequently met with, and is very 
abundant in Chautauqua lake, N. Y. 
It is distinguished by a marbled or 
mottled appearance of the body, which 
is of a dark yellowish brown color. 
This fish was, for a long time, classified 
by ichthyologists as a distinct species— 
Amicurus catus, but is now recognized 
as merely a variety of the common 
bullhead—A mzeurus nebulosus. I again 
desire to impress upon the angling 
student that coloration in fishes is not 
a strict factor in classification. It will 
be of great aid to him, particularly if 
he also notes the construction of the 
fins, in determining the species of the 
gate, 
