APRIL, 1910. FISHES OF CHICAGO MEEK AND HILDEBRAND. 237 



Family Lepisosteidae. 



Body elongate, subcylindrical, covered with hard rhombic ganoid 

 scales or plates, imbricated, in oblique series running downward and 

 backward; premaxillary forming most of the upper jaw; jaws long, 

 beak-like; teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines, some of the teeth in 

 the jaws large and canine-like; tail heterocercal ; an accessory gill on 

 under side of opercle; spiral valve of intestine rudimentary. 



Genus L/episosteus Lacepede. 

 GAR PIKES. 



Jaws with one or more series of teeth, some being enlarged and fit- 

 ting into a depression in the opposite jaw; usually some of the anterior 

 teeth movable ; teeth on vomer and palatines ; in the young the an- 

 terior teeth are usually enlarged. 



a. Jaws long and slender; snout more than twice the length of the 



head. osseus, 237 



aa. Jaws shorter and broader, little longer than the rest of the 



head. platostomus, 238 



Lepisosteus osseus (Linnaeus). LONG-NOSED GAR; BILLFISH. 



Head 2.7 to 3.1; depth 10 to 13; D. 8 or 9; A. 8 or 9; scales 60 

 to 63. Body elongate, cylindrical; jaws long, slender, beak-like; 

 more than twice the length of the rest of the head ; greatest width of 

 snout 6, least width 20 in its length; young with upper lobe of caudal 

 prolonged into a filament. 



Color pale olive, silvery below; vertical fins and posterior part of 

 the body with round black spots, more distinct in the young; very 

 young with a black lateral band. 



Length from 3 to 5 feet. 



It inhabits the larger streams and lakes, ranging from the Upper 

 Mississippi Valley, and the Great Lakes to Florida and the Rio Grande 

 in Mexico. It is active, feeding on minnows and the young of other 

 fishes. It spawns in the spring, usually in May or June. In this area 

 it has been taken in Lake Michigan and in the Des Plaines and Fox 

 rivers. 



Not used for food except in the southern part of its range. 



Fox Lake, Illinois; Fox River, McHenry, Illinois; Lake Michigan, 

 Millers, Indiana. 



