SIHIRID^E. 183 



nel Cat-fish, which is the largest of the family, is thus described by 

 Richardson : 



" Profile oval, tapering into the tail. Head broadly oval, forming 

 two-ninths of the total length. Orbits small, and nearer to the snout 

 than to the gill-openings. Nostrils situate some distance before the eye. 

 A slender barbel, half an inch long, springs from their posterior mar- 

 gin. Snout obtuse. Labials ending in a tapering barbel, which is an 

 inch and a quarter long, and reaches to the gill-opening ; there are 

 also two slender barbels, one each side of the chin. Both jaws are 

 armed with a brush-like band of short teeth. The palate and vomer 

 are smooth. In this genus the suboperculum is wanting ; the preoper- 

 culum is attached to the operculum by bone, and can be traced by its 

 elevated ridge. The interoperculum cannot be traced through the 

 skin. There are nine gill-rays. The gill-openings are rather narrow. 

 The dorsal rays are one spinous, seven soft ; second dorsal, adipose. 

 Pectorals, one spinous, eight soft ; ventrals eight, anals twenty-four, 

 caudals seventeen. 



The skin is smooth, thick, adipose, and lubricated by a mucous 

 secretion. The color is a dingy greenish brown above, and dirty 

 white below. The flesh is very rich and gelatinous, and not dissimilar 

 either in quality or flavor to that of the Eel. In some places it is 

 esteemed a great delicacy. All the Cat-fish are greedy biters, and 

 will take almost any animal substance as a bait. After being hooked, 

 however, although they are powerful fish, and pull hard for a while, 

 it is yet a dead lug entirely, unlike the lively and fierce resistance of 

 the Trouts and Pearches ; and they afford in truth very little real 

 sport to the angler. 



Seven species of this fish are quoted by M. Le Sueur, as belonging 

 to Lakes Erie, Ontario, and their tributary waters, besides many other 

 varieties in the southern and western waters, where it grows to a yet 

 more enormous size. 



There is, however, so little difference either in the appearance or 

 habits of this filthy, mud-loving and hideous fish, that the description 

 of one species must serve for all. 



The cut at the head of this paper represents the great Cat-fish, or 

 Huron Pimelode. 



The Silurus Glanis, Sly Silurus, or Sheat-fish, is the largest fresh- 



