70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



gate, spatulate or beaklike, the upper jaw projecting beyond 

 the lower; premaxillary forming most of the margin of the 

 upper jaw; maxillary transversely divided into several pieces; 

 upper jaw with an outer series of small, sharp, even teeth, 

 then a series of large teeth, some of the anterior teeth being 

 usually movable; next a series of fine teeth, in one row in front, 

 becoming a band behind. In some species the inner row of 

 these teeth contains larger ones; next the yomerine teeth, also 

 in a long band, and posteriorly a palatine band. These bands 

 on the roof of the mouth are frequently somewhat confluent 

 or irregular. In young specimens some of the palatine teeth 

 are often enlarged, these sometimes forming regular series. 

 Lower jaw with an outer series of small teeth, next a series of 

 large teeth, next again a broad band of fine teeth on each 

 side. Each of the large teeth fits into a depression in the 

 opposite jaw. Pharyngeals with rasplike teeth; tongue tooth- 

 less, short, broad, emarginate, free at tip; external bones of 

 skull very hard and rugose; eyes small; nostrils near the end 

 of the upper jaw; an accessory gill on the inner side of the 

 opercle; pseudobranchiae present; no spiracles; gills four, a 

 slit behind the fourth; branchiostegals three; gill membranes 

 somewhat connected, free from the isthmus; gill rakers very 

 short; air bladder cellular, lunglike, somewhat functional; fins 

 with fulcrums; dorsal fin short, rather high, posterior, nearly op- 

 posite the anal, which is similar in form; tail heterocercal, in the 

 young produced as a filament beyond the caudal fin; caudal 

 convex; ventrals nearly midway between pectorals and anal; 

 pectorals and ventrals moderate, few-raj T ed; stomach not caecal; 

 pyloric appendages numerous; spiral valve of intestines rudi- 

 mentary. 



Fishes of the fresh waters of North America and China. 

 (After Jordan and Evermann) 



38 Lepisosteus osseus Linnaeus 



Gar Pike; Billfish 



Esox osseus LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 313, 1758; MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. 



& Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 444, 1815; Am. Month. Mag. II, 321, ISIS. 

 Lepisosteus Uson DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 271, pi. 43, fig. 139, 1842. 



