FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



silvery on the belly. It grows to a length of five 

 feet, but eighteen inches or less is the average size 

 of those met with in the streams of New England. 

 It ranges from Vermont south to the Rio Grande, 

 and must not be confused with the needle fish of 

 the salt waters, which bears similar popular names, 

 and looks very much like it, although the first 

 is exclusively a fresh-water fish, and the latter an 

 anadromous species, doubtless ascending above 

 tide-water to spawn. The distinct coloration of 

 the two fishes will at once differentiate them ; 

 the fresh-water species being a palish olive and 

 grayish, and the other green and brightly silvery. 



Another species of the gar family is found in 

 the Great Lakes and doubtless in Lake Cham- 

 plain. It is known as the short-nosed gar, Lepisos- 

 teus platostomus, signifying " broad mouth." Its 

 snout is usually not more than one-third longer 

 than the rest of the head, and sometimes only 

 equal to it ; it is rather darker in color than the 

 long-nosed gar, and seldom, if ever, grows longer 

 than three feet. It is not abundant in the Great 

 Lakes, and is exceedingly variable in the markings 

 of the body. 



208 



