FISHES OF NEW YORK 71 



Lepidsosteus osseus Guntheb, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 1870; Jordan & 



Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 91, 1883. 

 Lepisosteus osseus Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 109, 1896. 



The garpike has an elongate, subcylindric body. Its depth 

 is contained about 12 times in the length without the caudal. 

 The jaws are greatly produced, the upper being the longer. 

 The length of the head is one third of the total without caudal. 

 Teeth in the jaws rather fine, sharp and stiff; a single inner row 

 of large teeth, and an outer row of small teeth on each side. 

 The snout is more than twice as long as the rest of the head, its 

 least width being from one fifteenth to one twentieth of its 

 length. D. 7 to 8; A. 9; V. 6; P. 10. Scales 62 to 65. 



Color greenish; the sides silvery and the belly whitish; nu- 

 merous round, dark spots on the sides, most distinct posteriorly 

 and most conspicuous in the young, becoming obscure with age. 

 Very young individuals have a blackish lateral band. The fins 

 are generally plain, but the vertical fins have numerous round 

 dark spots. 



The specimen described is no. 36098, U. S. National Museum. 

 Its length is 24 inches. 



This is the common long-nosed gar pike of the Great lakes, 

 the Mississippi valley and the eastern states from Pennsylvania 

 to South Carolina. It ranges south to Mexico and west to the 

 plains. Additional names for the species are: billfish, sword- 

 fish, bony gar, bony pike, alligator, alligator gar, and buf- 

 falo fish. Prof. Cope recognizes two varieties of this gar 

 in Pennsylvania. One of these abounds in the Susquehanna 

 and the lower Delaware. He distinguishes it by its ro- 

 bust form, short face and gill covers and the roughened 

 scales of the front part of the body. The other variety occurs 

 in lakes and in the Allegheny river and is to be known by its 

 slenderer face and gill covers, its smaller size, generally smooth 

 scales and the absence of dark spots on the body and fins. It 

 should be remembered, however, that the species is extremely 

 variable in these particulars, and all of the names based on 

 such characters have been generally discarded. 



