ICHTHYOLOGY. 



31 





eighteen being counted from the upper angle of the opercle to the interrupted portion of that line 

 and eight more along the peduncle of the tail. 



D XVI, 9+1; A V or VI, 6+1; C 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3 ; V I, 5 ; P 14. 



The ground color is brownish, scattered all over with small bluish spots. A black blotch is 

 sometimes observed upon the middle of the spinous portion of the dorsal, and another on the 

 dorsal region below the former. A third black blotch is observed at the base of the caudal fin. 

 The young exhibit transverse blackish bands or fascia, which are sometimes observed, thou eh 

 faintly, upon rather large specimens. 



Plate IV, fig. 9, represents Herichthys cyano-guttatus, size of life, but not full grown; fig. 10 

 is a scale from the dorsal region ; fig. 11, a scale from the lateral line ; and, fig. 12, a scale 



from the abdominal region. 



>/ 



Catal. 

 No. 



850 

 851 



852 

 853 

 854 

 855 



No.of 

 spec. 



Age 



Locality. 



When 



collected. 



856 



5 

 14 



8 



10 

 4 



6 



Young 



Adult & Young. 

 do 



do 





1 





do 



do 



Adult 



Devil's river, Texas. 



Laguna ; Fort Brown, Tex 

 Brownsville, Texas 



Matamoras, Mexico 



do 



San Juan river, San Diego, 

 near Cadereita. 



Cadereita, Mexico 



Whence obtained. 



Nature of 

 specimens 



Collected by- 



1851 



1853 

 1852 

 1853 

 1853 

 1853 



Col. J. D. Graham. . 



Maj. Emory 



Capt. Van Vliet. . . 

 Lt. D. N, Couch... 



Alcoholic. 



do 



do 



1853 



do 



« « iUO # • • • 



do 



Jno. II. Clark.. 



do 



Capt. Van Vliet. 

 L. Berlandier .. 



do 



do 



do 



do 



Lt. Couch 



do 



Family SILURIDAE. 



AILURICHTHYS, B. & G. 



Gen. Char. — Head depressed, smooth, unarmed; snout broad and rounded off. Two pairs of flattened barbels; a inaxillar pair, 

 sometimes very much elongated ; and a mental pa ; r, always shorter. Velvet-like teeth on the pre-maxillaries and front of the 

 vomer. Anterior margin of both dorsal and pectoral fins prolonged into a membranous thread, more or less elongated, according 

 to the species. An adipose dorsal fin situated opposite the anal. Caudal more or less furcated. 



Syn. —Jlilurichthys, B. & G. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VH, 1854, 26. 



This genus differs from Galeichthys, to which it is closely related, hy the presence of two 

 pairs of barbels only, instead of three. Accordingly Galeichthys gronovii, G. eydouxii, and G. 

 blochii, of Cuvier and Valenciennes, roust be referred to it. 



AILURICHTHYS MARINUS, B. & G. 



Salt water Cat-fish* 



Plate XIV. 



This well known and rather common species we have caused to be figured in order to supply 

 a desideratum, Fig. 1, is taken from a specimen double that size; fig. 2, being an outline of 

 the fish seen from above ; and fig. 3, the head seen from beneath, exhibiting the shape of the 

 mouth and the insertion of the mental pair of barbels. 



Stn. — Silurus marinus, Mitch, in Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N. Y. I, 1815, 433. 



Galeichthys parae, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. XV, 1840, 33. 



Galeichthys marinus, DeKat, N. Y. Fauna IV, 1842, ITS ; pi. xxxvii, fig. 118.— Stores, Synops. 1S46, 149. 

 JUlurichthys marinus, B. & G. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 26. 





