12 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

twelve hours or more. The young may be kept in an aquarium or other 
receptacle without change of water for months. The spawning season 
of the bow-fin is in May and June and stagnant sloughs are favorite lo- 
calities for this purpose. The eggs and young are protected by the 
parents and the young remain in the pools after the falling waters cause 
the departure of the adults. Dr. Estes, who has made the best obser- 
vations upon the reproduction of this species, states that the little ones 
are protected in the mouth of the parent when suddenly alarmed. The 
jumping of the bow-fin is one of its most characteristic habits. Dr. Estes 
saw them turn complete somersaults while in the air. 
The bow-fin is not a food fish, its flesh being soft and unsavory, vet 
Dr. Goode found them to be highly esteemed as a sweet morsel by the 
negroes of the south. The young are in great demand as bait for pike 
and pickerel and both these and the adults are interesting for the aqua- 
rium because of their colors, the ease with which they endure captivity, 
the peculiarities of their anatomical structure and their affinities with 
extinct Ganoids. 
ORDER MEMATOGNATHI. 
Famity SILURIDA. (Tue Car-risues.) 
Genus ICTALURUS Rariyesque. 
12. Ictalurus punctatus Rarinzsquz. 
The Spotted Cat-fish. (figure 21.) 
The body of the spotted cat-fish is rather long and slender, its depth being 
contained five times in the length without caudal and equal to the length of the dor- 
sal spine. The head is moderate, convex above, its length being slightly less than 
one-fourth total length. The maxillary barbels are very long, longer than head. 
Eye moderate, five and one-half in head. Pectoral spine two-thirds length of head , 
humeral process broad, one-halflength of pectoral spine. Adipose fin well developed. 
Caudal deeply forked. The least depth of the caudal peduncle equals one-half 
depth of body at last dorsal ray. D. 1,6; A. 24; V. I, 8. 
Specimen described, No. 27,846, United States National Museum, from Pekin, I1li- 
nois. 
This species is variously styled the channel cat, white cat, silver cat, 
blue cat and spotted cat. It is found over a vast extent of country, 
comprising the Mississippi and Ohio valleys andthe Great Lake region. 
In the eastern states it is absent from streams tributary to the Atlantic, 
but occurs from Vermont southward to Georgia, westward to Montana 
and southwestward to Mexico. In Pennsylvania it is limited to the 
Ohio and its affluents. The adults of this species are bluish silvery and 
the young are spotted with olive. It is one of the handsomest of the 
family of cat-fishes, and an excellent food fish. Its introduction into 
waters in which it is not native has begun and the multiplication of the 
species is greatly to be desired. The spotted cat grows to a length of 
