184 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
THE BROWN CATFISH. 
PIMELODUS PULLUS. 
PLATE XXXVII. FIG. 117. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 
Characteristics. Pectorals pointed. Ventrals subacute. Caudal fin emarginate. Length 
nine to twelve inches. 
Description. Head flattened, with a granular surface above; its length compared to the 
total length, is as one to four and a half. The upper jaw slightly the longest. Lateral line 
slightly concave under the dorsal fin, and then straight. Breadth of the head slightly less 
than its length. Eyes small, two-tenths of an inch in diameter, and far apart. Nostrils 
double; the posterior pair half an inch apart, patent, oval, with an erectile cirrus on their 
anterior margins ; the anterior pair subtubular, and near the edge of the jaws. A long cirrus, 
stout and fleshy at its base, at each angle of the jaws, and an inch anda half long. A pair 
of slender cirri 06 long, on the summit of the head; four others under the lower jaw, 
arranged in a curved line an inch in extent; the internal pair shortest, and all slender. 
Humeral bone with a blunt spine over the pectoral, and a short obtuse angular projection 
beneath. Mouth very ample and dilatable. A band of small recurved teeth in each jaw, 
broadest in the centre, and diminishing to a point on the sides. Vomer and palatines smooth. 
Two rounded patches of minute recurved teeth in the upper pharyngeals ; opposite to them, 
a few scattering minute teeth. 
The dorsal fin commences half an inch posterior to a point vertical to the origin of the pec- 
torals, subquadrate, and a little more than an inch high. Its first ray is a robust spine, 
slightly serrated on its posterior margin, and much shorter than the remaining rays. Adipose 
fin rounded, and opposite the termination of the anal fin. Pectorals placed low down, and in 
advance of the posterior angle of the opercle ; its spine stout and pointed, with its anterior 
and posterior margins serrated, and its upper and under surfaces corrugated: the spine is 
shorter than the four following rays. Ventrals somewhat pointed, and originate at a point 
three-tenths of an inch behind the end of the first dorsal. Anal fin with seventeen rays, an 
inch and a half long, and six-tenths of an inch high. Caudal fin slightly but distinctly emar- 
ginate ; the accessory rays indistinct. Vent with a double orifice. 
Color. A uniform dusky brown above, approaching to black ; beneath bluish white. Fins 
and cirri black ; the former tinged with red. 
Length, 9:0; of the head, 2°0. 
Rinsrays;eDs1.5.065R. ds Wesel 175 C. 1973: 
This is very common in Lake Pleasant, Lake Janet, and many of the other lakes in the 
northern districts of the State. There are many varieties in its markings, and it occasionally 
exceeds a foot in length. Its principal use in those regions appears to be, to serve as bait for 
the lake trout. 
