138 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



211. AMEIURUSCATUS,* (Linnaeus). 

 (WHITE CAT ; CHANNEL CAT OF THE POTOMAC.) 



Body stout, slender in the young, the head becoming excessively broad 

 in the adult. Barbels long, except nasal barbel ; caudal fin deeply forked, 

 the upper lobe the longer. Humeral process more than \ the length of 

 the spine, extremely rugose. Anal rays 21 (19 to 22) ; base of anal 4 to 

 5 in length. Dorsal fin inserted nearly midway between adipose fin and 

 snout. Pale olive bluish, silvery below without dark spots, but some- 

 times mottled or clouded. L. 2 feet. Delaware River to Texas, very 

 common in the coastwise streams and swamps, especially about Chesa- 

 peake Bay and in Florida ; also lately introduced into the Sacramento and 

 San Joaquin rivers, where it is becoming abundant. (Low Latin, catus, 

 cat.) 



Silunts cairn, LINNAEUS, x, 305, 1758; based on the Catfish of Catesby, (Bagre secundse speciei marc- 

 gravel affinis), which is a rude figure of the adult, or " lophius," form of this species; North- 

 ern part of America. 



Pimelodus albidus, LE SUEUR, Mem. Mus., v, 148, 1819, Delaware River. 



Pimelodus lynx, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 160, Potomac River. 



Amiurus albidus, JORDAN, I. c., 84, 1877. 



Ictalurus albidus, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 107,1883. 



Amiurus niveiventris, COPE, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., 1870, 486, Neuse River; JORDAN, I.e., 83, 1877. 



Idalunis niveiventris, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 107,1883. 



Amiurus lophius, COPE, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., 1870,486, Potomac River; JORDAN, I.e., 85, 1877. 



Ictalurus lophius, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 107, 1883. 



Ictalurus macaskeyi and I. kevinskii, STAUFFER, History Lancaster County, Pa., 578, 1869, Lancas- 

 ter County, Pa. 



212. AMEIURUS DUGESI, Bean. 



Allied to A. catus, but with narrower head, its width 5 in length; 

 humeral process slightly furrowed, not strongly rugose as in A. catus; 

 caudal deeply forked. Color plumbeous, silvery below. D. I, 6; A. 21. 

 Rio Turbio, Guanajuato, Mexico, west of the Sierra Madre. (To Alfredo 

 Duges, a naturalist and teacher in Guanajuato.) 



Ameiurus dugesi, BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 304, Rio Turbio, Guanajuato. (Type, No. 

 23122 and 23123.) 



213. AMEIURUS OKEECHOBEENSIS, (Heilprin). 



This species is known only from a figure,t no description having been 

 published. This figure shows the form of Ameiurus catus, the caudal 

 deeply forked, barbels long and slender, the fins low, the anal very short, 



* We indentify theSilurus cahtsof Linnaeus, or rather the figure of Catesby on which it is based 

 with Amiurus albidus of Le Sneur, the adult of which species well answers to Catesby's account, 

 and fairly matches his rough figure. Catesby's fish was from the " Northern part of America," 

 and had a mouth so large that the fish could swallow another of its own size, ("ejusque amplitud- 

 inis rictus, et piscem sequalis magnitudinie capere possit." It reaches a length of 2 feet. The 

 adult form (called "lophius") of the present species abounds in the Potomac, and has a larger 

 mouth than any other of the tribe. Southern specimens called niveiventris by Cope, from the 

 Neuse to St. Johns, are rather slenderer in from, but we know of no character by which the two 

 can be positively separated. If a difference exists, the southern form may stand as Ameiurus 

 niveiventris, the northern as A. catus. 



t The figure of Heilprin has much in common with that of Catesby, which is the basis of the 

 name Ameiurus catus. 



