Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/117

 CATESBY CATFISH 109 above 10,000,000 in a single plant; tlieir mi- nuteness, however, is not so wonderful as that each contains the elements necessary for ger- mination. However admitted, the seeds begin to germinate, gradually grow if the circum- stances are suitable, and fill the animal com- pletely with the thallus ; the insect retains its external form, though internally its fluids are dried up by the growth of the fungus; the plant then forces its way through the skin at various places, through the articulations, and even through the hard surface of the head. It may be that the vegetable growth does not always depend on its being nourished by the fluids of the insect; but that the latter, en- feebled by the heavy rains that fall periodically in theintertropical regions, where these growths abound, receives the seed, which grows by the influence of external moisture, and by its thal- lus interferes mechanically with the functions of the insect, and finally destroys it. A vigor- ous larva might even devour the parasitic seed, which, not finding a suitable nidus, might be voided in the usual way. These growths vary in length from a mere protuberance to 10 inches, and in diameter from a fine hair to one fourth of an inch. Most of them belong to the old genus sphceria, which has been subdivided into many genera, which, with many other ap- parently very different forms, may be more or less immature growths of totally dissimilar de- scribed genera. The fungi infesting insects are not peculiar to them, as they infest all organic and decaying matter. See " Proceed- ings of Boston Society of Natural History," vol. xi., p. 120, Feb. 6, 1867. CATESBY, Mark, an English artist and natural- ist, born about 1680, died in London, Dec. 24, 1749. After studying the natural sciences in London, he went to Virginia, and remained in America seven years, returning to England in 1719 with a rich collection of plants. En- couraged by Sir Hans Sloane and other friends of science to revisit America, he arrived in South Carolina in 1722, explored the lower parts of that state, and afterward lived for some time among the Indians about Fort Moore, 300 m. up Savannah river ; after which he continued his researches through Georgia and Florida. After spending three years upon the continent, he visited the Bahama islands, constantly occu- pied in delineating and collecting botanical and zoological objects. He returned to England in 1726, and published in numbers his great work on the "Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands " (2 vols. fol., !731-'48; new eds., 1754 and 1771). The figures were etched by himself from his own paintings, and the colored copies were executed under his own inspection. He was a member of the royal society, and wrote Hortus Europce Americanus (1767), and a paper on "Birds of Passage " in the " Philosophical Transactions." CATFISH, one of the malacopterygii or soft- rayed fishes, of the family siluridce, and of the genus pimelodus of Cuvier ; characterized by a smooth palate, the palatic bones often having teeth, but with no band of teeth parallel to those of the upper jaw; the head ornamented with eight fleshy barbules; skin naked. Dr. Storer describes 16 species as occurring in the fresh-water streams and lakes of North America, and there are about 50 in various parts of the world. The common catfish, or horned pout (P. atrariiis, De Kay), is one of the most com- mon fishes of our rivers, and is by many pre- ferred as an article of food to all other fluviatile species except the pickerel ; specimens are oc- casionally met with weighing three quarters of a pound. Length 7 to 9 in. ; color dusky, almost black on the head and back, lighter on the sides, and white beneath, in front of the ventral fins, which are behind the pectorals. Upper jaw the longer ; tail nearly even and rounded ; head smooth and flattened ; skin naked and covered with a mucous secretion. It has two fleshy barbules on the top of the head be- tween the snout and eye; at the angle of the upper jaw are two thick fleshy barbules, reaching to the middle of the pectoral fins, and there are four others under the lower Horned Pout (Fimelodus atranus). jaw. The mouth is capacious. There are two blunt spines midway between the eye and the opening of the gills ; the first ray of the first dorsal fin is strongly spinous; the second dorsal is fatty ; the pectoral fins have also a set rated spine; these spines become fixed and immovable at the will of the animal, and serve as formidable defensive weapons. Varieties sometimes occur in this genus with- out ventral fins, and such have been described as a new genus, pimapterm. This species is the most common one in the New England and middle states, and is found in the great lakea and along the Atlantic states from Maine to Florida. It prefers muddy bottoms, as do all the species of the genus. The great lake catfish (pimelodus nigricans, Lesueur) is from 2 to 4 ft. long, weighing from 6 to 30 Ibs. ; it is found in Lakes Erie and Ontario. This is of a deep olive brown color, and has the tail forked. Other species are the Huron catfish (P. ccenosus, Rich.), 10 in. long, found in Lake Huron; northern catfish (P. borealis, Rich.), 30 in. long, found in the northern regions ; the white