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CATESBY, ROBERT (1593-1605)
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See also:CATESBY, See also:ROBERT (1593-1605) , See also:English conspirator, son of See also:Sir See also: On the 2nd of See also:November his See also:resolution was shaken by Tresham's renewed entreaties that he would flee, and his See also:positive assurance that See also:Salisbury knew everything. On the evening of the 3rd, however, he was again, through See also:Percy's insistence, persuaded to stand See also:firm and See also:hazard the great stroke. The See also:rest of the See also:story is told in the See also:article GUNPOWDER PLOT. Here it need only be said that Catesby, after the See also:discovery of the conspiracy, fled with his See also:fellow-plotters, taking See also:refuge ultimately at Holbeche in See also:Stafford-See also:shire, where on the See also:night of the 8th of November he was over-taken and killed. He had married See also:Catherine, daughter of Thomas See also:Leigh of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, and See also:left one son, Robert, who inherited that part of the See also:family estate which had been settled on Catesby's See also:mother and was untouched by the See also:attainder, and who is said to have married a daughter of Thomas Percy. See also:CAT-See also:FISH, the name usually applied to the fishes of the family Siluridae, in allusion to the See also:long barbels or feelers about the mouth, which have been compared to the whiskers of a cat. The Siluridae are a large and varied See also:group, mostly inhabitants of fresh See also:waters; some of them by their singular See also:form and See also:armature are suggestive of the Devonian mailed fishes, and were placed at one See also:time in their vicinity by L. See also:Agassiz. Even such authorities as T. H. See also:Huxley and E. D. See also:Cope were inclined to ascribe ganoid See also:affinities to the Siluridae; but this view has gradually lost ground, and most See also:modern ichthyologists, if not all, have adopted the conclusions of M. Sagemehl, who has placed the Siluridae near the carps' and Characinids in the group Ostariophysi. The Silurids and Cyprinids may be regarded as two parallel See also:series derived from some See also:common stock which cannot have been very different from the existing Characinids. In spite of the archaic See also:appearance of some of its members, the family Siluridae does not appear to extend far back in time, its See also:oldest known representative being the Bucklandium diluvii of the See also:Lower See also:Eocene (See also:London See also:Clay) of See also:Sheppey. A great number of forms were placed by See also:Cuvier and his successors in the family Siluridae, which has since been broken up by T. Gill and other See also:American authors into several families, See also:united under the name of Nematognathi. A middle course appears the more reasonable to the See also:present writer, who has divided the Siluridae of Cuvier into three families, with the following See also:definitions: Siluridae—ribs attached to strong parapophyses; operculum well See also:developed. Loricariidae—ribs sessile; parapophyses absent; operculum more or less developed. Aspredinidae—ribs sessile; strong parapophyses; operculum absent. These three families may be defined among the Ostariophysi by having the parietal bones fused with the supraoccipital, no symplectic, the See also:body naked or with bony scutes, the mouth usually toothed, with barbels, and usually an adipose dorsal fin. The Siluridae embrace more than one thousand See also:species, spread over the fresh waters of all parts of the See also:world, but mostly from between the tropics. They are absent from western See also:Europe and See also:north-See also:west See also:Africa, and from North See also:America west of the Rocky Mountains, but this deficiency has been made See also:good by now, the introduction of Amiurus nebulosus and allied species in various parts of See also:continental Europe and See also:California having proved a success. Only a few forms are marine (Plotosus, See also:Arius, Galeichthys). The species which has given the name to the whole family is the " See also:Wels " of the Germans, Silurus glanis, the largest See also:European fresh-See also:water fish, inhabiting the greater part of Europe from the See also:Rhine eastwards and north of the See also:Alps. Its head is large and broad, its mouth wide, furnished with six barbels, of which those Fie. 1.-The " Wels " (Silurus glanis). of the upper See also:jaw are very long. Both jaws and the See also:palate are armed with broad bands of small closely-set See also:teeth, which give the bones a rasp-like appearance. The eyes are exceedingly small. The See also:short body terminates in a long, compressed, See also:muscular tail, and the whole fish is covered with a smooth, scaleless, slippery skin. Specimens of 4 and 5 ft. in length, and of 5o to 80 lb in See also:weight, are of common occurrence, and the fish grows to io ft., with a weight of 400 lb, in the See also:Danube. Its See also:food consists chiefly of other bottom-feeding fishes, and in inland countries it is considered one of the better class of food fishes. Stories about See also:children having been found in the See also:stomach of very large individuals are probably inventions. An allied species (S. aristotelis) is found in See also:Greece. The Clarias and Heterobranchus of Africa and See also:south-eastern See also:Asia have an elongate, more or less See also:eel-shaped body, with long dorsal and anal fins, and are known to be able to live a long time out of water, being provided with an See also:accessory dendritic breathing See also:organ situated above the gills. Some species live in burrows during the dry See also:season, crawling about at night in See also:search of food. The common See also:Nile species, the " Harmoot" (Clarias lazera), occurs abundantly in the See also:Lake of See also:Galilee and was included in, if not chiefly aimed at, by the See also:Mosaic law which forbade the See also:Jews to eat scaleless fishes, a See also:prohibition which has been extended to eels in spite of the obvious presence of See also:minute scales in the latter. The Saccobranchus of See also:India and See also:Ceylon, a genus more nearly related to Silurus, have also an accessory organ for breathing atmospheric See also:air. It consists of a long See also:sac behind the gill-cavity, extending far back on each See also:side of the body under the muscles. In the See also:majority of the Siluridae, called by A. See also:Gunther the Proteropterae, a See also:section extremely numerous in species, and represented throughout the tropics, the dorsal fin consists of a V. 17short-rayed and an adipose portion, the former belonging to the abdominal vertebral See also:column; the anal is always much shorter than the tail. The gill-membranes are not confluent with the skin of the See also:isthmus; they have a See also:free posterior margin. When a nasal See also:barbel is present, it belongs to the posterior nostril. This section includes among many others the genus Bagrus, of which the bayad (B. bayad) and docmac (B. docmac) frequently come under the See also:notice of travellers on the Nile; they grow to a length of 5 ft. and are eaten. Of the " cat-fishes " of North America (Amiurus), locally called " See also:bull-heads " or " horned-pouts," with eight barbels, some twenty species are known. Some of them are valued as food, especially one which is abundant in the ponds of New England, and capable of easy introduction into `other localities (A. nebulosus). Others which inhabit the great lakes (A. nigricans) and the See also:Mississippi (A. ponderosas) often exceed the weight of roo lb. Platystoma and Pimelodus See also:people the See also:rivers and lakes of tropical America, and many of them are conspicuous in this See also:fauna by the ornamentation of their body, by long spatulate snouts, and by their great See also:size. The genus Arius is composed of a great number of species and has the widest See also:distribution of all Silurids, being represented in almost all tropical countries which are drained by large rivers. Most of the species live in See also:salt water. They possess six barbels, and their head is extensively osseous on its upper See also:surface; their dorsal and See also:pectoral spines are generally developed into powerful weapons. Bagarius,-one of the largest Silurids of the rivers of India and See also:Java, exceeding a length of 6 ft., differs from Arians in having eight barbels and the head covered with skin. R. Semon has made observations in See also:Queensland on the habits of Arius australis, which builds nests in the sandy See also:bed of the See also:Burnett See also:river. These nests consist of circular See also:basin-like excavations about 20 in. in See also:diameter, at the bottom of which the eggs are laid and covered over by several layers of large stones. In the marine and estuarine species of Arius, Galeichthys and Osteogeniosus, the male, more rarely the See also:female, carries the eggs in the mouth and pharynx; these eggs, few in number, are remarkably large, measuring as much as 17 or 18 millimetres in diameter in Arius commusonii, a fish 3 or 4 ft. in length. The common North American Amiurus nebulosus also takes care of its eggs, which are deposited beneath protecting See also:objects at the bottom of the water, failing which both parents join in excavating a sort of See also:nest in the mud. The male watches over the eggs, and later leads the See also:young in great See also:schools near the See also:shore, seemingly caring for them as the See also:hen for her chickens. In the Siluridae Stenobranchiae of Gunther the dorsal fin consists of an adipose portion and a short-rayed fin which belongs to the abdominal vertebral column, and, like the adipose fin, may be sometimes absent. The gill-membranes are confluent with the skin of the isthmus. The Silurids belonging to this section are either South American or See also:African. Among the former we notice specially the genus Doras, which is distinguished by having a series of bony scutes along the middle of the side. The narrow- ness of their gill-openings appears to have developed in them a See also:habit which has excited the See also:attention of all naturalists who have visited the countries bordering upon the See also:Atlantic rivers of tropical America, viz. the habit of travelling during seasons of drought from a piece of water about to dry up to ponds of greater capacity. These journeys are occasionally of such a length that the fish have to travel all night; they are so numerous cz that the See also:Indians fill many baskets of them. J. See also:Hancock supposes that the fish carry a small See also:supply of water with them in their gill-cavity, which they can easily retain by closing their branchial apertures. The same naturalist adds that they make See also:regular nests, in which they See also:cover up their eggs with care and defend them—male and female uniting in this parental See also:duty until the eggs are hatched. Synodontis is an African genus and common in the Nile, where the various species are known by the name of " Shal." They frequently occur among the representations of animals left by the See also:ancient Egyptians. The upper part of their head is protected by strong osseous scutes, and both the dorsal and pectoral fins are armed with powerful spines. Their mouth is small, surrounded by six barbels, which are more or less fringed with a membrane or with branched tentacles. The curious fact of some species of Synodontis having the lower parts darker than the upper, some being whitish above and blackish beneath, appears to be connected with their habit of See also:swimming in a reversed position, the Belly turned upwards. This habit, known to the ancient Egyptians, who have frequently represented them in that attitude, has been described by E. See also:Geoffroy, who says they nearly constantly swim on their back, moving quite freely forwards and sidewards; but if alarmed, they revert to the normal position to See also:escape more rapidly. The electric cat- or sheath-fishes (Malopterurus) have been referred to the same section. Externally they are at once recognized by the See also:absence of a rayed dorsal fin, of which only a rudiment remains as a small interneural spine concealed below the skin. The entire fish is covered with soft, villose skin, an osseous defensive See also:armour having become unnecessary in consequence of the development of a powerful electric apparatus, the strength of which, however, is exceeded by that of the electric eel and the large species of See also:Torpedo. The electric organ of Malopterurus differs essentially from that of other fishes provided with such batteries, being part of the tegumentary See also:system instead of being derived from the muscles. It consists of rhomboidal cells of a fine gelatinous substance immediately under the skin. It is put into action by a single ganglionic See also:cell at the anterior extremity of the See also:spinal See also:cord. Contrary to what takes See also:place in other electric fishes, the current proceeds from the head to the tail. The electric cat-fish, which grows to a length of 3 ft. in the See also:Congo, has a wide distribution in Africa, extending from the Nile to the See also:Zambezi and from the See also:Senegal to the Congo. It was well known to the ancient Egyptians, who have depicted it in their mural paintings and elsewhere, and an See also:account of its electric properties was given by an Arab physician of the 12th See also:century; then as now the fish was known under the suggestive name of Raad or Raash, which means " See also:thunder." Gunther's Siluridae Branchicolae comprise the smallest and least developed members of the family; they are referred to two genera only from South America, Stegophilus and Vandellia, the smallest of which does not exceed the length of 2 in. Their body is soft, narrow, cylindrical and elongate; the dorsal and anal fins short; the vent far behind the middle of the length of the body; gill-membranes confluent with the skin of the isthmus. Each maxillary is provided with a small barbel; and the gill-covers are armed with short stiff spines. Their small size notwith- accuse them of entering and ascending the urethra of persons while bathing, causing inflammation and sometimes See also:death. Some certainly live parasitically in the gill-cavity of large Silurids, and F. Silvestri has observed Stegophilus insidiosus to suck the See also:blood in the gills of Platystoma coruscans, a Silurid growing to a length of 6 ft. The mailed cat-fish of the South American genus Callichthys builds regular nests of grass on leaves, sometimes placed in a hole scooped out in the See also:bank, in which they cover their eggs and defend them, male and female sharing in this parental duty. In the allied Corydoras a lengthy courtship takes place, followed by an embrace, during which the female receives the seminal fluid in a sort of pouch formed by the folded membranes of her ventral fins; immediately after, five or six eggs are produced and received in the pouch, to be afterwards carefully placed in a secluded spot. This operation is repeated many times, until the See also:total number of eggs, about 25o, have been deposited. In accordance with these pairing habits, the pectoral spines of the male, which are used in amplexation, are larger and stronger than those of the female. These fish are monogamous, and both parents remain by the side of the nest, furiously attacking any assailant. The allied family Loricariidae is entirely confined to the fresh waters of Central and South America. C. T. Regan, who has recently published an elaborate monograph of them, recognizes 189 species, referred to 17 genera. Many of them are completely mailed; but See also:standing, these Silurids are well known to the Brazilians, who all have in common a short-rayed dorsal fin, with the ventrals below or rarely in front of it. Their gill-openings are reduced to a short slit. The first group of this section comprises alpine forms of the See also:Andes, without any armature, and with a very broad and pendent lower See also:lip. They have been referred to several genera (Stygogenes, Arges, Brontes, Astroblepus), but are collectively called " prenadillas " by the natives, who See also:state that they live in subterranean craters within the bowels of the volcanoes of the Andes, and are ejected with streams of mud and water during eruptions. These fishes may, however, be found in surface waters at all times, and their appearance in great quantities in the See also:low See also:country during volcanic eruptions can be accounted for by See also:numbers being killed by the sulphuretted gases which escape during an eruption and by their being swept down with the torrents of water issuing from the See also:volcano. The See also:lowland forms have their body encased in large scutes, either rough, See also:scale-like, and arranged in four or five series (Chaetostomus), or polished, forming broad rings See also:round the slender and depressed tail (Loricaria, fig. 5). They are mostly of small size. In certain of the mailed genera the secondary sexual See also:differences may be very pronounced, and have given rise to many nominal species. The shape of the snout may differ according to the See also:sex, and its margin may be beset with tentacles in the male, whilst it frequently happens that the head of the latter is margined with spines or bristles which are either absent or considerably shorter in the female. The Aspredinidae, which are also closely related to the Siluridae,are represented by four genera and eighteen species from South America. Aspredo batrachus (fig. 6), of the Guianas, the largest form, reaching to about a See also:foot in length, deserves notice from the manner in which the female carries her eggs attached to the belly and paired fins, in a single layer, each See also:egg being connected with the skin by a See also:cup-shaped pedunculate See also:base supplied with blood-vessels and coated with a layer of epithelium, the formation of which is still unexplained. (G. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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