78 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Communipaw creek, on the Jersey side of the harbor of New 

 York. It swims frequent!}' with its long dorsal above the sur- 

 face, in the manner of sharks, and imitates those animals in 

 voracity. Mitchill had a specimen 20 inches long. 



At Woods Hole Mass., according to Dr Smith, the species is 

 quite rare, and few have been seen recently; one was caught in 

 a trap at Menemsha in 1886. 



Genus hexanematichthys Bleeker 



Body moderately elongate, subterete; head depressed, armed 

 with a bony shield above, behind which projects an occipital 

 shield; a smaller, crescent-shaped shield at the base of the dorsal 

 spine; these shields usually exposed but sometimes covered by 

 the skin; skull with a fontanel; mouth moderate, the upper 

 jaw the longer; teeth villiformor granular, in a band in each 

 jaw; teeth in one or two patches each on the vomer and pala- 

 tines, the palatine patches without a backward projecting angle 

 on the inner margin; palatine teeth fixed; barbels six (no nasal 

 barbels), close together, the posterior with a valve; maxillary 

 barbels short, terete; eyes with a more or less free orbital mar- 

 gin, the upper edge sometimes adnate; dorsal fin short, in front 

 of the ventrals, with a sharp spine and about seven rays; adi- 

 pose fin well developed, posteriorly free; caudal fin deeply 

 forked; anal fin short; pectorals with spine; ventral rays six; 

 skin smooth, naked, except on the occipital and nuchal regions, 

 where it is usually confluent with the surface of the bony buck- 

 l<'rs. Species marine. 



42 Hexanematichthys felis (Linnaeus) 



Sea Catfish 



SUiirns felis Linneau^, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, 503, 17G6. 

 Ariiis milbcrtl Guntheu, Cat. Fish. Brit. INIiis. V, 155, 1SG4. 

 \nufi cqucstris Guntiier, I.e. 173, 18G4; Baird & Girakd, Icblh. U. S. & 



Mcx. Bound. 32, pi. 15, 1859. 

 Arms fcUs and equcstris Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 110, 



1883. 

 (lahichthys felis Smith, Bull. U. S. F. O. XVII, 90, 189S. 

 Ifejancmatichthys felis Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 47, 



128, 1-1. XX HI, fig. 53, 1890. 



