244 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. VII. 



Genus Leptops Rafinesque. 



Body elongate, much depressed anteriorly; head large, wide; 

 supraoccipital bony bridge incomplete; teeth in broad bands on both 

 jaws, those of the upper jaw continued backward on each side; lower 

 jaw the longer; caudal fin oblong, subtruncate, with numerous short 

 rays at upper and lower margins. 



Leptops olivaris (Rafinesque). Mud Cat; Yellow Cat; Goujon; 



Morgan Cat. 



Head 3.2 to 4; depth 4.4 to 5.2; D. 1-6; A. 12 to 15. 



Body elongate; head long and broad, much depressed; its width 

 3,7 to 4.4 in body; interorbital space nearly flat, its width 3.7 to 4.4 

 in body; lower jaw the longer; lips thin; maxillary barbels not 

 reaching gill openings; eye small, its diameter 8 to 14 in head; pec- 

 toral spine short, 3 to 4.4 in head, its anterior and posterior edges 

 roughened or weakly serrate; caudal fin subtruncate. 



Color usually dark olive to yellowish above; lighter yellowish to 

 gray below; young mottled. 



It reaches a weight of 50 to 75 pounds. 



This fish inhabits the larger streams of the Mississippi Valley, 

 south to Northern Mexico. It is a good food fish. Spawns in May 

 and later. 



Genus Noturus Rafinesque. 



Stone Cat. 



Body elongate, head broad flattened above; posterior part of body 

 nearly cylindrical ; adipose dorsal long and attached for its entire 

 length; separated from caudal fin by a notch; band of teeth in upper 

 jaw with lateral backward extensions; a poison gland at base of 

 pectoral fin. 



Noturus flavus Rafinesque. Stone Cat. 



Head 3.6 to 3.9; depth 4.0 to 5.0; D. 1-6; A. 16. 



Body elongate, its anterior half broad and flattened, its posterior 

 cylindrical; tail compressed; head broad, its width 4 to 5 in length 

 of body; upper jaw the longer; maxillary barbels short, about half 

 length of head; diameter of eye 4 to 6 in head; dorsal fin to tip of 

 snout 2.4 to 2.8 in body; the spine short, its length 3 in height of fin; 

 pectoral spine with a few weak retrorse teeth on its anterior edge near 

 tip, the posterior edge smooth or nearly so; caudal fin rounded. 



