76 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY II. 



2. ICHTH^LUEUS EOBUSTUS, Jordan, sp. nov. 



Robust Channel Cat. 

 (Figs. 3 and 4.) 



Ictalurus furcatus, Nelson (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50. 



Habitat — Ohio and Mississippi Eivers. 



This is a large robust species said to be not uncommon in the Ohio 

 and Mississippi Rivers, and which seems to have been thus far con- 

 founded with the related I. furcatus. From that species it difiFers obvi- 

 ously in the shorter anal fin, which has 27 to 30 rays, and forms 1 ut 

 one-fourth of the length of the body, without the caudal. It is also a 

 stouter fish, with a larger head and a more elevated dorsal region. 

 From I. punotatus this species differs notably by the anterior position 

 of the eyes and by the greater elevation of the dorsal region. Old speci- 

 mens have the profile somewhat concave as in J. furcatus. 



The type is a large specimen, about 18 inches long, numbered 20056 

 in the National Museum. The record of the locality is lost. Another 

 specimen, figured in this paper, was sent me by Prof. S. A. Forbes, 

 from the Ohio Kiver at Cairo. Professor Forbes thinks it common in 

 the Lower Ohio and Mississippi, but that it rarely ascends the Illinois 

 and other tributary rivers. 



3. ICHTHiELUEUS PUNOTATUS, (Baf) Jordan. 



Blue Cat— White Cat— Silver Cat— Channel Cat. 



(Figs. 5 and 6.) 



Sihmts punetatus, Raf. (1818), Amer. Monthly Mag. and Critical Review, Sept. 359. 



Ictalurus punciatus, Jordan (1876), Bull. BuiF. Soc. Nat. Hist. 95; (1876), Manual 

 of Vertebrates, 300. — Jordan & Copeland (1876), Check List in Bull. Buff. 

 Soc. Nat. Hist. 159.— Jordan (1877), Annals Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. — . —Nelson 

 (1876), Bull. Ills. Mua. Nat. Hist. 50. 

 Pimelodm caudafurcatus, Le Sueur (1819), M6moires du Museum, v, 152. 

 Amiurus caudafurcatus, Gunther (1864), Catalogue of Fishes, v, 102. 

 Sihirus maculatus, Raf. (1820), Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Arts, 

 London, 48 (et var. eryihroptera, Tp. 49). 

 Finielodus (Ictalurus) maculatus, Raf. (1820), Ichthyologia Ohiensis, 62. 

 Silurus palUdus, Raf. (1820), Quart. Jouru. Sci. Lit. Arts London, 49 (et var. margi- 

 natus, lateralis, leucoptera). 

 Pimelodus palUdus, Raf. (1820), Ich. Oh. 63.— Kirtland (1838), Report Zool. Ohio, 

 169, 194. 

 Silurus cerulescens, Raf. (1820), Quart. Journ. Sci. Lit. Arts London, 49 (et var. nielan- 

 urus). 

 Pimelodus cefrulescens, Raf. (1820), Ich. Ohiensis, 63. — Kirtland (1838), Rept. 

 Zool. Ohio, 169, 194; (1846), Best. Journ. Nat. Hist, iv, 3.32.— Storer (1846), 

 Synopsis Fishes N. A. in Mem. Nat. Acad. Sci. 405. (All these descriptions re- 

 fer more or less to Amiurus nigricans). 



