FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
531 
Color in alcohol, brown, all the fins more or less dark, and the lower surface of head and belly 
pale or soiled whitish; side of body with a number of small and rather indistinct pale round dots 
forming 10 or more vertical series and joined below bv a longitudinal series which runs along the 
lower part of the trunk. 
Described from an example 5.25 inches long, collected at Honolulu, where the species has been 
introduced from China, in all probability, by the Chinese. 
Maeropteronotus fuscm LacepMe, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 88, pi. 2, fijj. 2, 1803, China. 
Clartaafmcua, CJiinther, Cat., V, 18, 1864. 
Cl arias puUawlx Rk-hard.-on, Voy. Sulp.. Fish., 135, pi. 62, figs. 5 and 6. 1844-5. 
Family SILURID.fi.—The True Catfishes. 
Body more or less elongate, naked or covered with bony plates; no true scales; anterior part of 
head with 2 or more barbels, the base of the longest pair formed by the small or rudimentary maxil¬ 
lary; margin of upper jaw formed by premaxillar-ies only; subopercle absent; opercle present; dorsal 
fin usually present, short, above or in front of the ventrals; adipose tin usually present; anterior rays 
of dorsal and pectoral usually spinous; air-bladder usually present, large, and connected with the 
organ of hearing by means of the auditory ossicles; lower pharyngeals separate. 
After the removal of numerous aberrant forms as distinct families, the family of Siluridx contains 
more than 100 genera and upward of 900 species. Most of them are fresh-water fishes, inhabiting the 
rivers of warm regions, particularly South America, North America, and Africa; comparatively few 
are marine and these few are mostly tropical; especially characteristic of the Amazon region in South 
America. No fish of this family is native to the Hawaiian Islands; the only species now occurring 
there was introduced from the United States. 
Thesiluroid recorded from the Hawaiian Islands byGiinther under the name of Arius ilim/cephuhis 
(Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., V, 157,1864), belongs to the genus Galeichthys ( Hemnematichthys) and doubtless 
came from Panama. 
Genus AMEIURtJS Ratinesque. 
Body moderately elongated, robust anteriorly, the caudal peduncle much compressed; head large, 
wide; supraoccipital extending backward, terminating in a more or less acute point, which is entirely' 
separate from the second interspinal buckler; skin covering the bones thick; eyes rather small, but 
developed; mouth large, the upper jaw in most species the longer; teeth in broad bands on the pre¬ 
max diaries and dentaries; band of upper jaw' convex in front, of equal breadth, and without backward 
prolongation at the angle; dorsal between the pectorals and ventrals higher than long, with a pungent 
spine and about 6 branched rays; adipose fin short, inserted over the posterior half of the anal; anal 
fin of varying length, with 15 to 35 rayg, the usual number being 20 or 21; caudal fin short, truncate 
in typical species, more or less forked in those species which approach the genus Ictalurus; ventrals 
each with one simple and 7 branched rays; pectoral fins each with a stout spine w'hich is commonly 
retorse-serrate behind; lateral line usually incomplete. Species very numerous, swarming in every 
pond and sluggish stream in the eastern United States; especially characteristic of quiet waters. 
Ameiurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). Common Bullhead. 
Head 3.7 in length; depth 5; eye 7.5 in head; snout 3; D. i, 7; A. 20, its base 5 in body. 
Body elongate, tapering posteriorly; head broad; eye small; mouth large, lower jaw included; 
maxillary barbel reaching base of pectoral; humeral process nearly equaling snout; least depth of 
caudal peduncle equal to snout; origin of dorsal fin midway between tip of snout and adipose fin. 
Color in alcohol, dark above, mottled on sides, pale below; barbels all dark; dorsal dark; caudal, 
anal, pectorals, and ventrals paler. 
Description from a specimen 1.3 inches long, taken in a rice ditch at Honolulu. Other specimens 
are in the collection made by Doctor Jenkins. 
This is the common bullhead, so abundant and generally' distributed throughout the eastern United 
States in lakes, ponds, and sluggish streams, from the Great Lakes to Texas and Florida and east to 
Maine. Some years ago it was introduced into the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Gila rivers and other 
