GAR-PIKES, OLD AND YOUNG. 189 



previously examined by naturalists (so far as known to the writer), 

 but tliey also fui-nish the clew to the double tail, and suggest some 

 important paleontological considerations. 



While earnestly expressing his appreciation of the value of these 

 little gars, the writer tinds himself compelled to exemplify the pro- 

 verbially ungrateful and dissatisfied nature of zoologists by regretting 

 that there were not more of them, and that some were not very much 

 smaller, or even still within the egg. 



In this connection one is reminded that now, as a rule, the smallest 

 rather than the largest are desired by naturalists. The giants are 

 curiosities, and interesting as showing the capacity for growth ; but 

 the mysteries of development, the relations of apparently diverse 

 forms, and the order of geological succession, are best revealed by 

 the apparently most insignificant. 



A good illustration of this inverse ratio between size and value is 

 contained in the following passage from Prof, and Mrs. Agassiz's 

 " Journey in Brazil : " 



"Mr. Agassiz has a corps of little boys, engaged in catching the tiniest fishes, 

 so insignificant in size that the regular fishermen, who can never be made to 

 understand that a fish which is not good to eat can serve any useful purpose, 

 always throw them away. Nevertheless, these are among the most instructive 

 specimens for tlie ichthyologist, because they often reveal the relations not only 

 between parent and offspring, but wider relations between groups." 



Of the two smallest gars, one is nearly colorless, while the other 

 is marked very much as are the older ones. They are 18 millimetres 

 (a little less than three-fourths of an inch) in length. The head is 

 short and flattened, with slight indications of teeth on the edges of 

 the jaws. With one of them the ventral fins have not appeared ; 

 with the other they are represented by minute white elevations. Each 

 pectoral consists of a fleshy lobe, surrounded by a thin fringe or 

 border. 



Fig. 9. Smallest Gar-Pike tet obtained (Eighteen Millimetres or about Three-fourth 



Inch long, enlarged Five Diameters). 



The actual lon<;th is indicatecl by the line above the ficnre. There are no gcales. The head is 

 short. The pectoral fin (P) consists of a fleshy lobe: (i), with a thin fringe or border (F). The 

 ventral fins have not appeared. A median fin extends along the hinder third of the body above 

 aiKl the liinder half lielow. It is interrupted hy the vent (F), and presents lour darker 

 and more or less dilTerentiated spots. The anterior pair are evidently the beginninjis ot the 

 dorsal (D) and anal fins. The signification of the binder dorsal spot is nnceitam. But the 

 hinder spot below (C) presents rays, and is the commencement of the inlra-caudal lobe. 



The hinder end of the body tapers to a point, as with Amjy/noxns, 

 the extremity being slightly bent downward. At the junction of the 

 middle with the hinder third of the body commences a delicate 

 median fin, colorless, and without rays for the most part, and extend- 



