800 FISHES — SILURID^. 



Diagnosis. — This species may be known from the other Stone Cats by 

 its greater size, and by the U-shaped band of premaxillary teeth. 



Habits. — Like the other Stone Cats, this is a sluggish fish, lurking 

 under stones and logs. It is much more abundant in the Ohio and its 

 immediate tributaries than in the streams of the interior. Although 

 much the largest species of the genus, it is too small to be valued as 

 food. 



24. NoTURUs ExiLis Nelson. 



Slender Stone Cat. 



Notwus exilis, Nelson (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist., 51. — Joedan asd Copeland 

 (1876), Check List, 160,— Jordan (1677), Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist.N. Y. — ; Bull. U. S. 

 Nat. Mns,, x, 1877, 10 ; Man. Vert. E. U. S., 2d. Ed,, 1878, 335. 



Desorvptiou. — Body elongated, the head small, narrow, very much depressed ; the jaws 

 neatly equal ; premaxillary band of teeth without backward processes ; dorsal spine 

 low, nearer snout than anal ; pectoral spines short, nearly straight, about one-third 

 length of head, slightly retrorse, serrate without, with about six small straight teeth 

 within, which are not one-third as long as the spine is broad ; color pale yellowish- 

 brown, nearly plain ; tip of dorsal black ; head 4J in length ; depth about 6 ; distance 

 from snout to dorsal 3 1-5 in length ; anal rays 14 or 15. Length, 3 to 5 inches. 



Habitat, Indiana to Missouri'and Kansas, not yet noticed in Ohio. 



Diagnosis — This species may be known from the other Ohio species by 

 the small, rough pectoral spines, and by the nearly equal jaws. 



Habits. — This species has not yet been noticed east of the tributaries 

 of the Illinois, but as it will probably be found in Ohio, it is inserted 

 here. It is one of the smallest and most slender species, and its habits 

 offer nothing distinctive. 



25. NoTURUs MiTJRUs Jordan. 



Variegated Stone Cat. 



Nbtums miurus, Jordan, MSS. — Jordan and Copeland (1876), Cheek List, 160. — 

 Jordan (1877), Ann. Lyo. Nat. Hist., 46 (name only) ; Ann. Lyo. Nat. Hist. N. T., 

 1877, — ; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1878, 100 ; Man. Vert., 2d. Ed., 1878, 336. 



Description. — Body moderately elongate, the dorsal region more or less elevated : head 

 moderate, the upper jaw the longer ; pectoral spines very strong, curved, their inner 

 eerrse very strong, spine-like, more than half as long as the spine is broad ; adipose fin 

 continuous, high, interrupted by a deep notch which does not, however, break the con- 

 tinuity of the fin f the rudimentary caudal rays beginning in the notch ; color grayish, 

 the back with four definite, broad, dark cross-bars ; one before the dorsal, one behind it, 

 one on the middle of the adipose fin, and one small one behind ; top of head, and tips 

 of fins black; distance from snout to dorsal 2f in length ; pectoral spine 2^- in this dis- 

 tance ; head 3f to 4 ; depth 4i to 5 ; A. 12 or 13. Length 3 or 4 inches. 



Habitatj Ohio Valley to Great Lake region and south to Louisiana. 



