diff --git a/nbodykit/base/catalog.py b/nbodykit/base/catalog.py
index 5a6318a75..f1598c4e3 100644
--- a/nbodykit/base/catalog.py
+++ b/nbodykit/base/catalog.py
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ def __getitem__(self, sel):
             1.  strings specifying a column in the CatalogSource; returns
                 a dask array holding the column data
             2.  boolean arrays specifying a slice of the CatalogSource; 
-                returns a SlicedCatalogSource holding only the revelant slice
+                returns a CatalogSubset holding only the revelant slice
             3.  slice object specifying which particles to select
         """
         # handle boolean array slices
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ def __getitem__(self, sel):
 
             # do the slicing
             if not numpy.isscalar(sel):
-                return SliceCatalogSource(self, sel)
+                return get_catalog_subset(self, sel)
             else:
                 raise KeyError("strings and boolean arrays are the only supported indexing methods")
             
@@ -498,11 +498,43 @@ def to_mesh(self, Nmesh=None, BoxSize=None, dtype='f4',
         r.window = window
         return r
   
+
+class CatalogSubset(CatalogSource):
+    """
+    A subset of a CatalogSource holding only a portion
+    of the original source
+    """
+    def __init__(self, size, comm, use_cache=False, **columns):
+        """
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        size : int
+            the size of the new source; this was likely determined by
+            the number of particles passing the selection criterion
+        comm : MPI communicator
+            the MPI communicator; this should be the same as the
+            comm of the object that we are selecting from
+        use_cache : bool; optional
+            whether to cache results
+        **columns : 
+            the data arrays that will be added to this source; keys
+            represent the column names
+        """
+        self._size = size
+        CatalogSource.__init__(self, comm=comm, use_cache=use_cache)
+        
+        # store the column arrays
+        for name in columns:
+            self[name] = columns[name]
+    
+    @property
+    def size(self):
+        return self._size
         
-def SliceCatalogSource(parent, index):
+def get_catalog_subset(parent, index):
     """
-    Slice a `CatalogSource` according to a boolean index array, 
-    returning a new CatalogSource holding only the data that satisfies 
+    Select a subset of a CatalogSource according to a boolean index array, 
+    returning a CatalogSubset holding only the data that satisfies 
     the slice criterion
     
     Parameters
@@ -515,7 +547,7 @@ def SliceCatalogSource(parent, index):
     
     Returns
     -------
-    sliced : SlicedCatalogSource
+    subset : CatalogSubset
         the particle source with the same meta-data as `parent`, and
         with the sliced data arrays
     """  
@@ -534,17 +566,9 @@ def SliceCatalogSource(parent, index):
     # new size is just number of True entries
     size = index.sum()
     
-    class SlicedCatalogSource(CatalogSource):
-        @property
-        def size(self):
-            return size
-            
-    # initialize empty Source of right size
-    toret = SlicedCatalogSource(parent.comm, use_cache=parent.use_cache)
-    
-    # copy over columns
-    for column in parent:
-        toret[column] = parent[column][index]
+    # initialize subset Source of right size
+    subset_data = {col:parent[col][index] for col in parent}
+    toret = CatalogSubset(size, parent.comm, use_cache=parent.use_cache, **subset_data)
     
     # and the meta-data
     toret.attrs.update(parent.attrs)