326 



SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY. 



it is not strange that many naturalists have split up the 

 group and distributed its members among the other sub- 

 classes. 



FIG. 125. Common Sturgeon ( Acipenser sturio}. After Goode. 



To it belong the sturgeons (fig. 125), the most sharklike 

 of all, some of which live in fresh water, while the marine 

 forms ascend the rivers to lay their eggs. From their 

 ovaries are made caviare, while their swim-bladders fur- 

 nish the isinglass, now so largely supplanted in domestic 

 economy by gelatine. Though some attain an enormous 

 size, all feed upon small animals, worms, insect larvae, etc., 

 which they find in the mud. The garpikes (fig. 126), 



FIG. 126. Garpike (Lepidosteus osseus). After Tenney. 



with their strongly armored bodies, which also belong 

 here, on the other hand, are very voracious. The bowfin 

 of the United States is the most like Teleosts of all the 

 ganoids. 



SUBCLASS HI.--TELEOSTEI (Bony Fishes). 



The great majority of the forms which we ordinarily call 

 fishes belong to the group of Teleosts or bony fishes, so 

 called from the abundant bony matter in the skeleton. In 

 all, the mouth is at the tip of the snout, the nostrils on the 



