Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 135 



channels of the larger streams, especially southwestward. It reaches a 

 weight of 20 to 25 pounds, and is an excellent food fish, not inferior to the 

 Black Bass. Variable, (punctatus, spotted.) 



SUnrus punctalns, RAFIXESQUE, Atner. Month. Mag., 1818, 359, Ohio River. 



f<-l<tlinlnriis imitctahix, JORDAN, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1877, 76. 



Piinvlodus caudafurcatus, LE SUEUR, M6m. Mus., v, 152, 1819, Wabash River, Mississippi 



River. 



Pimelodus cterulescen*, RAFINESQUE, Ichth. Oh., 63, 1820, Ohio River. 

 A>iiinrnscanditfi<r<->itus, Gi'NTHER, Cat., V, 102,1864. 



macidatus, pallidus, iirgcntitnis, argyi-us, with varieties eryihroptera, margiuatm, later alls, 



l<'i-iitera, RAFINESQUE, Quart. Jour. Sci. London, 1820, and Ichth. Oh., 62, etc., 1820, Ohio 



River. 



urcifer, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, xv, 139, 1840, Surinam, by error. 

 Pitnelodm gracilis, HOUGH, Ann. Rept. Regents, Albany, 1852, 26, Somerville, N. Y. 

 Pimelodus rulpes, GIRAKD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1858, 170, Rivers of Texas. (Type, 



Nos. 843, 845, and 846.) 

 Siinechoglanis beadlei, GILL, Trans. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1859, 2, St. Catherines, Ontario. 



(Type, No. 5115.) 

 Pimelodus haughi, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859,159, Somerville; Ogdensburgh; 



Foxburg, Penn. (Type, No. 1532.) 

 Pimelodus megalops,QiKA.KD, I c., 161, Black Warrior River ; Bigsby River, Alabama. 



(Type, No. 1532.) 



Pimelodus graciosits, GIRARD, I. c., 161, Prairie Mer Rouge, Louisiana. (Type, No. 1511.) 

 Pimelodus hammondi and notatus, ABBOTT, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, 568, Fort Riley. 

 Irt,dnrus simpsoni, GILL, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1862, 43, Platte River. 

 Tctalurus robusttis, JORDAN, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1877, 76, Cairo, Illinois. (Type, No. 2056.) 



208. ICTALURUS MERIDIONALIS, (Gunther). 



Head 5 ; depth 4. D. I, 6 ; A. 28 or 29. Similar to 7. punctatus t but with 

 the barbels shorter, the longest only reaching gill opening. Brownish 

 above, with blue reflections, silvery below. Rio Usumacinta, Guatemala. 

 (Gunther.) (meridionalis, southern.) 



Antiurns meridionalis, GtfNTHER, Cat., v, 1864, 102, and in Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 473 

 Rio Usumacinta, Guatemala. 



77. AMEIURUS,* Rafinesque. 

 (HORNED POUT.) 



Ameiurus, RAFINESQUE, Ichth. Oh., 65, 1820, (cuprens=natalis). 

 ','r.,x, COPE, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1864, 231, (nigrilabris). 

 Haustor, JORDAN AND EVERMANN, subgen. nov., (lacustris). 

 Aininrns or Ameiurus, corrected spelling. 



Body moderately elongated, robust anteriorly, the caudal peduncle 

 much compressed. Head large, wide; supraoccipital extended backward, 

 terminating in a more or less acute. point, which is entirely separate from 

 the second interspinal buckler; skin covering the bones thick. Eyes 

 rather small, but developed. Mouth large, the upper jaw in most species 

 the longer. Teeth in broad bands on the premaxillaries and dentaries ; 

 band of upper jaw convex in front, of equal breadth, and without 



*The Horned Pout are "dull and blundering fellows," fond of the mud and growing best in 

 weedy ponds and rivers without current. They stay near the bottom, moving slowly about 

 with their barbels widely spread, watching for anything eatable. They will take any kind of 

 bait from an angle worm to a piece of tomato can, without hesitation or coquetry, and they 

 seldom fail to swallow the hook. They are very tenacious of life, opening and shutting their 

 mouths for half an hour after their heads have been taken off. They spawn in spring, and the 

 old fishes lead the young in great schools near the shore, caring for them as a hen cares for her 

 chickens. "A bloodthirsty and bullying set of rangers, with ever a lance at rest and ready to 

 do battle with their nearest neighbor." Thoreau. 



