800 FISHES—SILURIDA. 
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 nterior. Although 
much the largest species of the genus, it is too small to be valued as 
food. 
24. Norurus Exitis Nelson. 
Slender Stone Cat. 
Noturus exilis, NELSON (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat, Hist., 51—JoRDAN and COPELAND 
(1876), Check List, 160.—JORDAN (1¢77), Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist.N. Y.—; Bull. U. S. 
Nat. Mus., x, 1877, 10; Man. Vert. E. U.S., 2d. Ed, 1878, 335. 
Description —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 44 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 Oh o 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. Norurvus MIuRUS Jordan. 
Variegated Stome Cat. 
Noturus miurus, JORDAN, MSS.—JORDAN and COPELAND (1876), Check List, 160.— 
JORDAN (1877), Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., 46 (name only); Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y., 
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 
serrse 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; the rudimentary caudal rays beginningin 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 23in length; pectoral spine 24 in this dis- 
tance; head 3% to 4; depth 44 to 5; A.12o0r13. Length 3 or 4 inches. 
Habitat, Ohio Valley to Great Lake region and south to Louisiana. 
a a 
