90 CONTKIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY^II. 



natalis form of this species. There is certainly nothing in the emargin- 

 ation of the caudal fin in which confinis ^nd Jioyi differ from the rest of 

 the species with the caudal fin truncate, as has been supposed by Prof. 

 Cope, on the strength of Girard's description. 



The only good description of this species is that of Prof. Gill, under 

 the name of Amiurus obesus, in the report of Captain Simpson's Explo- 

 rations. I have no doubt of the identity of Eafinesque?s melas with 

 the obesus. The obesus occurs in considerable abundance about the 

 Falls of the Ohio, and Eafinesque's description is reasonably accurate. 



16. AMIURUS CATUS, [L.) Gill. 



Bullhead — Hornpout — Catfish. 



(Figs. 40 and 41.) 



fBagre fecundce sj^ecies Marcgr. affinis, Catesby (17.50), Fishes etc. Carolina, 23, tab, 



xxlii (a most wretched figure, absolutely unidentifiable). 

 Silurus catus, Linn. (1758), Syst. Nat. x, p. 305 ; (1766), xii, p. 504. — Bloch. Schn. 

 (1801), 387.— MiTCHii.L (1818), Journal Lit. & Philos. Soc. N. Y. i, 433. 

 Pimelodus catus, Cuv. & Val. (1840), xv, 124.— De Kay (1842), Fishes N. Y. 182.— 



Stoker (1846), Synopsis, 402. 

 Aviiurus catus, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 44. — Gunther (1864), Cat. 

 Fishes, v, 99 (excl. syn. pars). — Uhler & Lugger (1876), Fishes of Maryland, 

 152. 

 Pimelodus nebulosus, Le Sueur (1819), M^m. de Museum, v, 149. — Storer (1838), Eept. 

 Fishes Mass. 102. 

 Amiurus nebulosus, Gill (1862), P^oc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 44. — Cope (1870), Proc. 

 Am. Philos. Soc. 485. 

 Pimelodus atrarius, De Kay (1842), Fishes N. Y. 185.— Stoker (1846), Synopsis, 404 ; 

 (1855), Fishes of Mass. 279. 

 Amiurus atrarius, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 44. — Jordan (1876), Man. 

 Vert. 30.— Nelson (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50.— Jordan & Copeland 

 (1876), Check List, 159.— Jordan (1877), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 46. 

 Pimelodus felis, Agassiz (1850), Lake Superior, 281. 



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

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



Amiurus hoyi, Gill (1862), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 44. — Cope (1870), Proc. Am. 

 Philos. Soc. 486.— Jordan (1876), Man. Vert. 301.— Jordan & Copeland 

 (1876), Check List, 159. 

 Pimelodus vulpeculus, Girard (1859), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 160. 

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



Variety? Mispilliensis. 



Amiurus mispilliensis, Cope (1870), Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 486. — Jordan & Copeland 

 (1876), Check List, 1-59. 



Habitat. — Great Lake Eegion and Upper Mississippi to Arkansas and 

 northward ; also in streams of the Atlantic States from Maine south 

 to Carolina. 



