CATCHUP

originally, in English usage, a relish or sauce of which the juice of salted, spiced mushrooms was the chief ingredient. In England the title is still best restricted to products having the juice of edible fungi as their base, but in this country it is applied, descriptively defined, to a number of different sauces which consist of the pulp—boiled, strained, and seasoned--of various fruits, as tomatoes or green walnuts, or of a thick purée of ovsters or other shellfish. Catchup is judged by flavor, smoothne of consistenee, and uniformity and attractivene of color. The word comes from the Amoy-Chinese A dechiap, or Kitsiap, the brine of pickled fish or 7 shellfish, CATFISH, a familiar name for a number of fishes, chiefly (in this country) of fresh waters, which are so styled because of some resemblance, real or fancied, to the eat —as barbels about the mouth, giving the effect of a cat’s ‘‘whiskers,’’ or a purring sound when caught. A number of them are excellent food-fishes—their flesh of fine appearance, flavor, and high nutritive quality—and several attain great size. The largest of North-American species are the ‘‘blue eat,’’ or *¢ Mi i ippi eat”? (Ictalurus fureatus), and the ‘‘goujon,’’ or ‘‘mud cat’? (Leptops elivaris), both with long, slender bodies and occasionally attaining 100 pounds and upwards in weight, and both of the Mi i ippi Valley and the states along the Gulf. The blue cat has a small narrow head, narrow mouth, and long barbels. The goujon has a very flat head and; short barbels. Next in size of those generally marketed—with a po ible maximum of something over thirty-five pounds—is the Great Lakes catfish (Ameiurus lacustris), with a broad head, long barbels, and a rather stout body. Specimens reported as greatly exceeding thirty-five pounds are generally ‘‘blue cats.”’. The species with the choicest flesh is that of the ‘‘channel cat,’’ or spotted cat (Ictalurus punctatus), of the Great Lakes, Mi i ippi Valley, and Gulf of Mexico— of fair average size, up to a maximum of thirty pounds or so. The ‘‘small catfish’’ the ‘‘common bullhead,’’ — or ‘‘horned *¢Sehuylkill cat’’—is comparatively diminutive, sel — - dom exceeding twelve inches or so in length and ‘*Small eatfish,’’ or ‘‘common bullthead’’ —- 8 pound Or i weight. p = It is abundant in fresh waters in nearly every section of the United States and is easily caught. Its flesh is good and (properly prepared after the removal of its coarse brownish-yellow or blackish skin) will compare favorably with that of many more highly rated fishes. “Catfish dinners’’ of this particular ‘‘cat’’ are popular in Philadelphia and elsewhere along the Schuylkill river. Noteworthy among Southern species are the ‘‘white,’’ or ‘‘Potomae,’’ cat (A. cat us) and the ‘‘vellow cat’? (A. natal is). The ‘‘white cat’’ is in many respects similar to the Great Lakes catfish, and the ‘‘ yellow cat’”’ to the ‘“‘small catfish.’’ The biggest of all catfishes is the European Wels, or ‘‘Sheatfish’’? (Silurus glanis), which reaches a length of ten feet and a weight of four hundred pounds.