On the breeding habits of the sea-catfish (<I>Ariopsis milberti ?</I>)

278 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

"The

Blackbird {QuiscaUis lumi)iosiis) isveryabundant.

The Cuckoo

manioc {Coccyzusminor)is alsofound here, aswell asthe Certhiolasp.?, the small Si)aiTOW [Fhonipara^hicolor),theMocking-bird

{Mimus

ffilvus),

theGreen Heron^{Butondesvirescens),

and

theChicken

Hawk

[Buteo penn- sylrameus). Inoneof the islands, Union, the Cockrico {Ortalida ruji-

cauda) hasbeen successfully introduced,

and some

attemi^tshave been

made

withthe

American

Quail {OrtyxVirginianus).

Some

ofthe islands are inprivatehands,

and

have beenstocked^^ithdeer

and

goats,which, haviugbecomethoroughlywild, afford excellenthunting.

"

The

sea birdsfrequent the small islands, and theoutlying rocks of thelarger, in mjTiads, wheretheybreed.

"The

LittleCrested

Humming-bird

of

Grenada and

St.Vincent^isalso foundin theGrenadines."

Ni:wYoniv,December 10, 1878.

OiXTIIK BBKEDBIVC: lIABIirS

OF

TOOK

SEA-CATFISH

(ABflOPSIS ITOILBEBTB?).

By PKOF.

N. T.

ILUPTOIV.

Vanderbilt Univeesity,

Nashville, Tenn., February 19, 1877.

Prof.

Spencer

F.

Baird

:

About

the middleofJuly, 18G8,whileon avisit toMobile, Ala., Iac-

companied a party of friends on afishing excursion to Fish IJiver, a small stream on the eastern sideof Mobile Bay,

some

25 miles below thecity. Thisrivernear its

mouth

widens out,

formmg

Berwicks Bay, a sheetof water about three miles wide

by

four in length. This Ber- wicks

Bay

isafavorite fishing-ground,beingthe resort,especially after astorminthe Gulf, of

immense

schools of mullet.

A

great varietyof other fish, such as thecroaker, trout,redfish, &c.,

abound

in thisbay.

Captain

Wemyss, who owned

^it large saw-mill on the

bank

of the river,

and whose

hospitality

we

were enjoying,kindlyi)roposed to

show

us the different kinds of fishwhichfrequent these Avaters,

and

to this

endfurnished alarge seine

and

thenecessary force to

draw

it.

While

examiningthefish

my

attention

was

called toseveralcat,each about 10 inchesin length, whichseemed to havea wonderful develop-

ment

of thethroat.

On

examination, the enlargement

was

foundto bo caused

by

smallcatfish

and

eggs which were^{carried in}themouth.

From

the

mouth

of one I took out eleven small fish, each about .aninchin length,

and

from anothereight or nine eggs thesize of a small marble, the eyes of theembryoniccat showingdistinctlythrough the thin

mem-

brane enveloping the egg.

,

On

inquiry

made

ofseveral oldfishermenin the neighborhood, and of alarge

number

elsewhere, I have tailedto find one

who knew

anything

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 279

whateveroftliis liabitof thecatfisli. If the observationisnew,

and

it

deservesto be placed on record,you are at liberty to vise this in

any way you may deem

proper.

Very

respectfully,

ii^. T.

LUPTOK

ON THE

OCCttJBKEIVt'E OB'

STICH^US PUIVCTATUS,

(FABR.)

KROYEB.

AT

^8T.]TflflCHAEl.'S, AILASKA.

By TARJLETON H. BEAN.

A

^{singlespecimen} of thespeciesabove

named was

collected

June

_29,

1874, at St.Michael's, Alaska,

by

I\Ir. Lucien

M.

Turner,

who

sentitto the UnitedStates]Srational

Musemn. The

speciesis

now

apparentlyfor thefirsttime recorded fromthe coastof Northwestern North America.

The

totallength ofthespecimenis 145millimetres(o|^ inches). It has beencompared with an individual of the

same

speciesfrom Greenland (probablyfromtheDanish Colonies, asit

was

presentedto the

Museum by

theDanishAcademy),

and

anotherfrom Halifax,

Nova

Scotia,

where

it

was

taken September4,1877,

by

the United StatesFish Commission, atthe

mouth

of the harbor, in20 fathomsof water. Inorder to

show

ata glance

how

the St.Michael'sspecimen differs fi'om the other two, the proportions ofthedifferentparts ofthe bodj'ofallthe specimensto the total length without caudal are exhibited in tabular form.

The

averageproportions ofthe three individuals are givenin anothertable,

and

they

may

serve as a basisofadescription ofthespecies.

From

this average the si^ecimenfrom ^St. Michael's differs in the following par- ticulars:

1.

The

maxillaryis longer.

,

2.

The

mandible islonger.

3.

The

pectoralis longer.

4.

The

ventralis inserted

somewhat

nearer the snout.

Inthe

number

of analrays, theAlaska specimenis intermediate be- tweenthe other two.

The

differences indicatedfallAvithinthe limitsof individual variation, and in the absence of suflBcient material it isnot practicable toseparate tlic St. Michael's example from the other two, even asavariety.

SticJucuspnnctatusis recordedfrom tliecoastof Greenland (Danish Colonies?), Newfoundland, Halifax,

Nova

Scotia, and St. Michael's, Alaska.