SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 67 



Diagnosis. — A variable species; body usually short and stout, sometimes very obese; 

 head short and broad; dorsal and pectoral spines comparatively short; anal rays 24 to 27; 

 adipose fin long. Color: yellow, yellow-brown, green, or black, pale below, (natalis, having 

 large buttock.) 



This species ranges from the Great Lakes region to Virginia and Texas, and 

 is abundant in many places, but in North Carolina was until recently known 

 only from the upper waters of the Neuse. In June, 1905, and May, 1906, it was 

 found to be common by Mr. C. S. Brimley in a canal connected with Lake Ellis 

 in Craven county; and it doubtless occurs in various other localities in the state. 



36. AMEIURUS NEBULOSUS (LeSueur). 

 "Yellow Oat-fish"; Bullhead; Horned Pout. 



Pimdodua nebvloaus LeSueur, Memoirs du Mus^ d'Historie Naturelle, v, 149, 1819; Lake Ontario. 

 Ameiwrua nebuloaua. Jordan, 18895, 125; Tar River near Rooky Mount. Smith, 1893a, 190, 194, 198; tribu- 

 taries of Albemarle Sound. Jordan & Evermann. 1896, 140. 



Diagnosis. — Form variable, color ranging from yellowish to black. Example 12.5 

 inches long from Pasquotank River: Head .28 total length; depth .25 total length; anal base 

 .25 total length, anal rays 22; pectoral spine .4 length of head; above dark green, sides golden 

 yellow, obscurely mottled with green, beneath pale yeUow or white. (nebvZosus, clouded.) 



The common bullhead is widely distributed and is one of the most abundant 

 and best known of the cat-fishes. From Maine and the Great Lakes it ranges to 

 Florida and Texas, inhabiting streams, ponds, and lakes. It is doubtless more 

 common in North Carolina than the published records of its capture would indi- 

 cate, for besides the Albemarle region, it is reported only from Tar River. In 

 the western end of Albemarle Sound and in Pasquotank and Roanoke rivers, 

 it is common, but much less numerous than Ameiurus catus. It attains a length 

 of 18 inches, but averages much less. 



The species is omnivorous, although probably preferring fish food. It is 

 fond of the eggs and young of various fishes, and is generally regarded as very 

 destructive in this respect. It often frequents the vicinity of wharves and 

 drains, and feeds on refuse. 



The breeding habits of the bullhead are probably better known than those 

 of any other cat-fish herein listed. The writer published the following brief 

 account in Science (February 13, 1903;, a more detailed description appearing 

 later:* 



A pair of fish from the Potomac River in the Fish Commission aquarium at Washington 

 made a nest on July 3, 1902, by removing in their mouths upwards of a gallon of gravel from 

 one end of the tank, leaving the slate bottom bare. On July 5 about 2,000 eggs, in four separ- 

 ate agglutinated clusters, were deposited between 10 and 11 a,, m. on the scrupulously clean 

 bottom. Ninety-nine per cent hatched in five days in a mean water temperature of 77° F. 

 The young remained on the bottom in dense masses until 6 days old, when they began to swim, 

 at first rising vertically a few inches and immediately falHng back. By the end of the seventh 

 day they were swimming actively, and most of them collected in a school just beneath the sur- 

 face, "Where they remained for two days, afterwards scattering. They first ate finely ground 



♦Breeding habits of the yellow cat-fish. By Hugh M. Smith and L. G. Harron Bulletin U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission 1902, p. 151-154. 



