SILURID^. 77 



Ictalurus ccerulescens, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.— Cope (1865), 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 85; (1870), Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 489.— Jordan 

 (1874), lad. Geol. Survey, 222.— Gill (1870), Ich. Capt. Simpson's Exped. 417. 

 Iclithwlurus ccerulescens, Cope (1869), Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. 237. 

 Siliirus argentinus, Raf. (1820), Qaart. Journ. Sci. Lit. Arts Londoa, 50. 

 Fiinelodus argyras, Eaf. (1820), Ichthyologia Ohiensis, 64, 



Pimclodus furcifer, Cuv. & Val. (1840), xv, 139.— " Hyrtl (1859), Denkschr. Akad. 

 Wiss, Wieu, 16".— "Kxer, Sitzgsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, xs;vi, 421." 

 /ciaZwrifs/Mm/e?', Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43,— Jordan (1870), Man- 

 ual Vert. 300. 

 Pimolodas gracilis, HouGii (1852), Fifth Ann. Eapt. Eeg. Univ. Condition State Cabi- 

 net Nat. Hist. Albany, 26. 

 St/necJioglanis gracilis, Gill (1859), Trans. Lye. Nat. Hist. 3 (reprint). 

 dctaliirus gracilis, Gill (1882), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43.— Cope (1865), Proc. 

 Acad, Nat. Sci. Phila. 85.— Jordan (1876), Man. Vert. 300.— Jordan & Cope- 

 land (1876), Check List, 159. 

 Pimelopus vulpes, Girard (1858), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 170 ; (18.59), U. S, and Mex- 

 Bound. Surv. 33, 

 Ictalurus vulpes, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost, Soc, Nat, Hist, 43.— Jordan & Copeland 

 (1876), Check List, 159. 

 Pimelodus olivacetis, Girard (1858), Pac. K. E. Survey, x, 211. 



Ictalurus olivaceus, Gill (1862), 1. c. 43; (1876), Eept. Ichthy. Capt. Simpson's Exp. 

 417.— Jordan (1876), Man. Vert. 300.— Jordan & Copeland (1876), Check 

 List, 159. 

 Synechoglanis ieadlei, Gill (1859), Trans. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 2 (reprint). 



Ictalurus headlei, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 43. — Jordan & Cope. 

 LAND (1876), Check List, 159. 

 Pimelodus houghii, Girard (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 159. 

 Pimelodus megalops, Girard (1859), 1. c. 161 (said to have the eye very large, its diam- 

 eter one-third the length of the side of the head). 

 Ictalurus megalops, Jordan & Copeland (1876), Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist. 159, 

 Pimelodus graciosus, Girard (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 161. 

 Pimelodus hammondii, Abbott (1860), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 568. 

 Pimelodus notatus, Abbott (1860), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 569. 

 Ictalurus simpsoni, Gill (1862), Proc, Bost, Soc, Nat, Hist, 43 ; (1876), Ich, Capt. Simp- 

 son's Exp. 417. 



Habitat. — Nortbern ISTew York; Canada. Great Lake Eegion, through- 

 out Mississippi Valley, Nebraska, Kansas, to Georgia, Florida, and 

 Texas. 



The synonymy of this species is not altogether creditable to workers 

 in American ichthyology. It is one of our ro.ost abundant and widely 

 diffused fishes, and one even less subject to variations than species of 

 such wide distribution usually are. And yet, if the above synonymy 

 is correct, we have twenty-three different specific and varietal names 

 applied to it. It would seem as if every naturalist who had obtained 

 a Channel Cat was sure that such a Cat-fish, so slender, so clean, and 

 so white, must surely be unknown to science, or else he would have 

 heard of it before. As a result of this, nearly every writer on American 

 fresh-water fishes has one or more nominal species based on some 



