The Bullheads 



barely reaching anal; caudal moderately forked. Colour, uniform 

 pale-yellowish or olivaceous, no spots anywhere. Length 18 

 inches or less; weight, 3 to 5 pounds. 



There is a fourth species of this genus in American waters 

 /. meridionalis, known only from the Rio Usumacinta, in 

 southern Mexico, but nothing is known of its game or 

 food qualities, nor is it certain that the species is not, like Am- 

 eiurus dugesi, a fork-tailed Ameiurus. 



GENUS AMEIURUS RAFINESQUE 

 The Bullheads 



Body rather stout, the caudal peduncle much compressed ; 

 head large and wide; mouth \arge, the upper jaw usually the 

 longer; teeth in broad bands on the premaxillaries and dentaries; 

 band on upper jaw convex in front, of uniform width, and 

 without backward prolongation at angle; anal fin of varying 

 length, with 15 to 35 rays; caudal fin truncate in most species, 

 forked in some. 



Species several, swarming in every pond and sluggish stream 

 in the Eastern United States and the Mississippi Valley; one or more 

 species introduced on our Pacific Coast, where they are now 

 abundant; one species occurring in China. The species are very 

 variable and not easy to identify. The lack of connection between 

 the supraoccipital and the interspinal buckler is the only charac- 

 teristic by which this genus can be separated from Ictalurus. 



Most of the species are small, but they all possess a certain 

 food value and some reach a large size. The species may be 

 distinguished by means of the following key : 



a. Caudal fin lunate or forked. 



b. Anal rays 25 to 35 lacustris, 24 



bb. Anal rays 19 to 24 ; catus, 25 



aa. Caudal fin entire, truncate, or slightly emarginate behind. 



c. Anal fin long, of 23 to 27 rays (counting rudiments), its base 



more than \ body ; natalis, 25 



23 



