796 FISHES — SILUEIDJS. 



desceoded iuto the patent insides of a Bull-head to mine for limerick hooks, that did 

 not, before the work waB done, run a horn into his vital parts. But the boy seems to ex- 

 pect it, and the Bull-head enjoys it. We have seen a Bull-head lie on the bank and be- 

 come dry, and to all appearances dead to all that was going on, and -when a boy sat 

 down on him, and got a horn in his elbow, and yelled murder, the Bull-head would grin 

 from ear to ear, and wag his tail as though applauding for an encore. 



The Bull-head never complains. We have seen a boy take a dull knife and proceed 

 to follow a fish line down a Bull-head from head to the end of his subsequent anatomy, 

 and all the time there would be an expression of sweet peace on the countenance of the 

 Bull-head, as though he enjoyed it. If we were preparing a picture representing "Ee- 

 signation," for a chromo to give to subscribers, and wished to represent a scene of suf- 

 fering, in which the sufferer was light-hearted, seeming to recognize that all was for the 

 best, we should take for the subject a Bull-head, with a boy searching with a knife for a 

 long-lost fish- hook. 



The Bull-head is a fish that has no scales, but in lieu thereof has a fine India rubber 

 skin, thatia as far ahead of fiddle-string material for strength and durability as possible. 

 The meat of the Bull-head is not as choice as that of the Mackerel, but it fills up a 

 stomach just as well, and The Sun insists that the fish commissioners shall drop the 

 hatching of aristocratic fish, and give the Bull-heads a chance. 



21. Amiurus xanthocephalus (Rafinesque) Gill. 



Small Tellow Catfish. 



Silurus xanthocephalus, Rafinesque (1820), Quart. Journ. Soi. Lit. and Arts, London, 51. 



Pimelodua xanthocephalus, Eafinksqde (1820), loh. Ohiensis, 60. — Kirtland (1838), Eept. 

 Zool. Ohio, 169, 194.— Storbk (1846), Synopsis, 405. 



Amiurus xanthocephalus, Gill (1862), Proc. Best. Soo. Nat. Hist., 44. — Jordan and Cope- 

 land (1876), Check List, 159.— Jordan (1877), Ann. Lyo. Nat. Hist., N. Y.,— . 



Fimelodus catus, Kirtland, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., v, 330 (excl. syn.). 



Amiurus albidus, Jordan (1876), Man. Vert., 302 (not Fimelodus albidus LeSueur). — ^Nel- 

 son (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist., 50. 



Amiurus nebulosus, Jordan (1877), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 45. 



Description. — Body stout and deep, much as in A. natalis, head very broad, about as 

 broad as long, the slope from snont to base of dorsal quite uneven, there being a more 

 or less decided angle at the occiput ; month very broad ; dorsal spine inserted nearer 

 adipose fin than snout ; anal fin short and low, its rays usually 19 ; caudal fin trnncate 

 or slightly emarginate ; coloration rather pale yellowish brown ; head 4 in length ; 

 depth 4 to 4^. Length 1 foot. 



Habitat, Ohio Valley. 



Diagnosis. — This species resembles A. natalis, but differs in the short 

 anal fin. The broad head separates it from A. catus, and the anal fin is 

 lower and smaller than in the latter species. 



Habits. — This small species abounds in the ponds and bayous of South- 

 ern Ohio and Indiana. I have not noticed it in any of the streams trib- 

 utary to Lake Erie. Its habits offer nothing distinctive. 



