88 CONTKIBUTIONS TO NOETH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY — 11. 



RcyDolds, with an extremelj' long anal fin and some peculiarities of 

 form, I have termed var, analis. 



The description of Pimelodus natalis Le Sueur appears to have been 

 based on an individual with the caudal peduncle swollen and elevated. 



It appears that most of the species have what may be termed '■'"nata- 

 lis"'^ forms, *. e., individuals with the post dorsal region shortened and 

 thickened, with the adipose fin enlarged, and with the caudal fin very 

 short J owing to the encroachment of the flesh on its rays. These forms 

 often appear more distinct from the normal type than do any two allied 

 species. The names puma and natalis seem to have been based on the 

 natalis type of this species. Catulns and confinis are the natalis form of 

 melas, and so on. Whether these peculiar forms are distinct races or 

 aberrant individuals, or stages in the life of an individual, or what they 

 are, I have not now sufficient evidence to enable me to decide. I can 

 only say that 1 do not at present consider them distinct species. 



13. AMIURUS VULGARIS, (Thompson) Nelson. 



LoEg-jawed Catfish. 



a. Subspecies VuLaARis. 



(Fiffs. 33 and 34.) 



Pimelodus vulgaris, Thompson (1842), History of Vermont 138. 



Amiurus vulgaris, Nelson (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. JiO. — Jordan & Cope- 

 land (1876), Check List, 159. 

 Pimelodus dekayi, Girard (1859), Troc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 160. 



Amiurus dekayi, Gii.1. {lf-62), Proc. Bost. Sec. Nat. Hist. 44.— Cope (1870), Proc. 

 Am. Philoa. Sec. 485.— Jordan (1876), Man. Vert. 302. 



Sabitat.—Lake Champlain and Great Lake region. 

 h. ^ahspeaies MIjVUVS, (Girard) Gill. 



(Fig. 35.) 



Pimelodus ailurus, Girard (1S5S), U. S. Pac. E. E. Surv. Fishes, 210. 

 Amiurus ailurus, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 44. 



Amiurus wlurus, Cope (1870), Proc. Am. Phllos. Soc. 485.— Jordan (1876), Man. 

 Vert. 302.— Jordan & Copeland (1877), Check List, 159. 



Eahitat. — Upper Mississippi River, Missouri River and their tributa- 

 ries, also in Red River of the North. 



Girard's statement that his dekayi is the same as De Kay's Pimelodus 

 catus is certainly incorrect, if any reliance is to be placed on descrip- 

 tions. That Thompson's vulgaris is the same as deJcayi I have no doubt. 

 Amiurus wlurus, of which I have examined the types as well as nuraer- 



