304 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



CI)<3.11nd C&t (ylctalurtis punctatus Rafinesque). 



Ictalnrus punctatus Jordan, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist., 95, 1876; Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., 108, 1883; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 134, 1896, 

 pi. XXV, fig. 58, 1900. 



This species is variously styled the channel cat, white cat, silver cat, blue 

 cat and spotted cat. It is found over a vast extent of country, including the 

 Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and the Great Lakes region. In the Eastern States 

 it is absent from streams tributary to the Atlantic, but occurs from Vermont 

 south to Georgia, westward to Montana, and southwestward to Mexico. In 

 Pennsylvania it is limited to the Ohio and its affluents. 



The adults of this species are bluish silvery, and the young are spotted with 

 olive. It is one of the handsomest of the family of catfishes and an excellent 

 food fish. The spotted cat grows to a length of three feet and a weight of 

 twenty-five pounds. It is extremely variable in color and in number of fin rays, and 

 has consequently been described under more than twenty different names. It is 

 most abundant in large, clear streams. The species is less hardy than most 

 of the other catfishes. 



