406 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
fish in California and Oregon yielded only negative results as to the presence of young fish and ova. 
Writing of the bullhead in Clear Lake. California, Jordan & Gilbert say that it is extremely abundant 
and is destructive to the spawn of other species. The scarcity of the valuable Sacramento perch in that 
lake, which they attribute to the carp, here as in the Sacramento River, may be partly due to the more 
numerous cat-fish, which feed almost exclusively on animal matter. 
Breeding habits . — Probably less is actually known of the breeding habits of most 
of the species of cat-fishes than of their other habits, yet observations have been 
made upon two or more species with sufficient detail to warrant the assumption that 
in the main the habits of most species are essentially alike. Speaking of Ictalurus 
punctatus , Jordan says that it spawns in the spring, but that its breeding habits have 
not been studied. Mr. Jones says this species spawns when one year old, and twice 
a year in May and in September. In the preceding spring he procured eight wild 
ones. After feeding them well up to this time (October 31), they had spawned in 
May and September and filled his pond. He says that they take care of their own 
}mung and trouble no other fish. 
Ryder (Bull. U. S. F. C. 1883, p. 225) thus describes the breeding process of a 
pair of Potomac channel cats ( Aineiurus catus) in the aquarium at Washington: 
A number of adult individuals of Ameiurus albidus were brought from the Potomac River to the 
Armory building at the instance of Lieut, W. C. Babcock, U. S. N., and Colonel McDonald, and 
deposited in the large tank aquaria of that institution about the close of the shad-fishing season of 
1883. One pair of these have since bred or spawned in confinement, and thus afforded the writer the 
opportunity of observing and describing some of the more interesting phases of the development of 
this singular and interesting family of fishes. * * * Its habits of spawning and care of the young 
are probably common to all the species of the genus, and are quite remarkable, as will appear from 
the subjoined account. \ 
On the morning of the 13th of July, a little after 10 o’clock, we noticed a mass of whitish 
eggs in one of our aquaria inhabited by three adult specimens of Ameiurus albidus, two of which were 
unmistakably the parents of the brood, for the reason that they did not permit the third one to 
approach near the mass of eggs, which one of them was watching vigilantly. One of the individuals 
remained constantly over the eggs, agitating the water over them with its anal, ventral, and pectoral 
fins. This one subsequently proved to be the male, not the female, as was at first supposed. The 
female, after the eggs were laid, seemed to take no further interest in them, the whole duty of 
renewing and forcing the water through the mass of adherent ova devolving upon the male, who was 
most assiduous in this duty until the young had escaped from the egg membranes. During all this 
time, or about a week, the male was never seen to abandon his post, nor did it seem that he much 
cared even afterwards to leave the scene where he had so faithfully labored to bring forth from the 
eggs the brood left in his charge by his apparently careless spouse. The male measured 15 inches in 
length, the female one-fourth inch more. 
The mass of ova deposited by the female in a corner and at one end of the slate bottom of the 
aquarium measured about 8 inches in length and 4 inches in width, and was nowhere much over 
one-half to three-fourths of an inch in thickness. The ova were covered over with an adhesive, but 
not gelatinous, outer envelope, so that they were adherent to the bottom of the aquarium and to each 
other where their spherical surfaces came in contact, and consequently had intervening spaces for the 
free passage of water, such as would be found in a submerged pile of shot or other sjoherical bodies. 
It was evident that the male was forcing fresh water through this mass 1 >y hovering over it and vibrating 
the anal, ventral, and pectoral fins rapidly. There were probably 2,000 ova in the whole mass, as 
nearly as could be estimated. All of those left in the care of the male came out, while one-half of the 
mass which he had detached from the bottom of the aquarium on the third day, during some of his 
vigorous efforts at changing the water, were transferred to another aquarium, supplied with running 
water, and left to themselves. Those which were hatched by the artificial means just described did 
not come out as well as those under natural conditions. Nearly one-half failed to hatch, apparently 
because they were not agitated so as to force fresh water among them and kept, clean by the attention 
of the male parent. * * * When first hatched, outlie sixth to eighth day, the young exhibited 
