456 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



My studies of their food were based upon one hundred and 

 twenty specimens, belonging mostly to five species of Ictalurus 

 and Noturus. The data are especially deficient with respect to 

 the food of the largest lake and river species. 



ICTALUKUS FURCATUS, C. & V. CHANNEL CaT ; FoRK-TAILED 



Cat; White Fulton. 



This is the catfish par excellence., and is the best food fish 

 of its family. It occurs only in the deeper water of the larger 

 streams. It is common in the Mississippi and the Ohio, al- 

 though much less so than the following species, but is taken 

 rather rarely in the Illinois, where it is often called the 

 "Mississippi cat." It is never found in lakes and ponds, and 

 feeds, according to the reports of fishermen, almost exclu- 

 sively upon other fishes. A single specimen taken at Quincy 

 Oct. 25, 1887, had eaten fishes only. 



The gill apparatus is better developed than in Amiurus, but 

 is nevertheless very incomplete. The anterior arch has only one 

 row of rakers, eleven in number below the angle, four or five 

 above. These are longest near the upper end of the lower part of 

 the gill, where they are about half the length of the corre- 

 sponding filaments. The other gills have similar but shorter 

 rakers, the third and fourth a double row of about equal length. 

 None of the rakers are toothed or tuberculate. The pharyn- 

 geals, both superior and inferior, are similar to those of Amiu- 

 rus, but relatively smaller. 



Ictalurus punctatus, Raf. Blue Fulton; Spotted Cat; 

 Fiddler; Switch Tail. 



An abundant species in the larger rivers, much commoner 

 than the preceding, but not quite so good for food, smaller, 

 ranging more freely, and clearly a more general feeder, 

 although its alimentary structures are not noticeably different. 



The gill-rakers of the anterior arch are a trifle shorter, the 

 longer ones being about one third the length of the corre- 

 sponding filaments, and the pharyngeal structures seemingly a 

 little heavier. 



