Order Lepisostei 



ROYAL D. SUTTKUS 



Tulane University 



Acknowledgments. My thanks are due the following persons for the loan of specimens 

 or for help in making specimens available for study : Leonard P. Schultz, Ernest A. 

 Lachner, William Ralph Taylor, Robert Kanazawa, and James Tyler of the United 

 States National Museum; fames E, Bohlke of the Academy of Natural Sciences at 

 Philadelphia ; Henry B. Bigelow and Mrs. Myvanwy Dick of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology at Harvard University ; Reeve M. Bailey, Robert R. Miller, 

 and Carter Gilbert of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan ; Clark 

 Hubbs of the University of Texas ; Charles M. Breder and Vladimir Walters of 

 the American Museum of Natural History ; Luis Rivas of the University of Miami ; 

 William M. Clay and Louis A. Krumholz of the University of Louisville ; Loren P. 

 Woods, Robert F. Inger, and Pearl Sonoda of the Chicago Natural History Museum, 

 and Shelby D. Gerking of the University of Indiana. Thanks are also due Edward 

 C. Raney and Henry B. Bigelow for reading the manuscript and for making helpful 

 suggestions for improvement ; to Bill Komodore for delineation of Figs, ii, 14, 75, 16 ; 

 to Rudolph y. Miller for Figs. 12, 1 3, 18 ; and to Miss Patricia Hale for Fig. ly. 

 Preparation of the illustrations and examination of many specimens at various 

 museums and institutions were made possible by financial aid from the Sears Founda- 

 tion through a grant-in-aid from the National Science Foundation (N. S. F. No. 

 G J 1 23), and from a National Science Foundation grant to the author {N. S. F. 

 No. G go26). 



Scope of Study. This account gives detailed descriptions of tlie Order Lepisostei 

 and family Lepisosteidae, of the genus Lepisosteus, and of four species — oculatus, 

 osseus, platyrhincus, and spatula. The "Key to Species of the Western North Atlantic" 

 encompasses subgenera as well as species and gives the alternate characters that are 



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