168 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
ventral 214 ; caudal 1°/,; least depth of caudal peduncle 2% ; base 
of anal 1%. Body rather elongate, compressed. Head de- 
pressed, profile broadly rounded when viewed above. Snout 
broad, depressed, and profile rounded. Eye small, elongate and 
anterior. Mouth broadly crescent-shaped with upper jaw pro- 
truding a little. Teeth fine, in rather broad bands in jaw. Max- 
illary barbel reaching near first third of pectoral. Outer mental 
barbel also longer than usual, and equals pectoral fin. Inter- 
orbital space broadly convex. Gill-rakers rather small, not num- 
erous. Dorsal inserted.about opposite tip of pectoral spine. Adi- 
pose fin large, near last third of postdorsal space over posterior 
rays of anal. Anal inserted midway between origin of pectoral 
and base of caudal. Caudal rounded. Pectoral reaches 24 to 
ventral. Ventral inserted about midway in body just behind base 
of dorsal. Color black, belly soiled whitish. Mental barbel whit- 
ish, maxillary and nasal dark. Length 8 inches. Batsto River. 
Type (cotype) of Amiurus prosthistius Cope. | 
This cat fish is confined to the rather quiet cedar-stained 
streams flowing into the Atlantic, such as the Great Egg Harbor, 
Batsto and Wading Rivers. Besides the material of Cope, on 
which I have already reported, are 3 examples which I secured 
in the Wading River near Speedwell, Burlington County, April 
30th, 1904. In life they were deep blackish-olivaceous, except 
on the lower or ventral regions of head and abdomen, which were 
white. Mandibular barbels white. Ends of maxillary barbels 
whitish, otherwise black like nasal barbels. Fins black, bases of 
pectoral and ventral paler. Iris dull yellow. These were taken 
on a hook baited with-raw pork during the evening. In the same 
locality as many as 25 were said to have been taken during a 
single evening, and occasionally large examples are reported from 
the larger and deeper bodies of water. ‘They apparently seek 
concealment in the deep pools during the day, only taking the 
hook at’ dusk or after dark. J have never seen them swimming: 
about. Their flesh is said to be good and held in some estimation 
as a food-fish by the farmers. 
Amiurus prosthistius Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1883, 
p. 132.—Cope, Am. Nat., XXX, 1896, p. 943. 
