88 CONTEIBUTIOxVS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY — IV. 
4§.— SCAPIIIRRIIYJVCIIOPS Gill. 
Shovel-nose Sturgeons. 
{Scaphirhynchus Heckel, Ann. Wiener Mus. Naturgescli. i, 1835,71; preoccupied in orni- 
thology.) 
{ScapMrliyncliops* (Gill, MSS.) Jordan & Copeland, Bull. Buff. Soc, Nat. Hist. 1876, 161 ; 
type Acipenser platorynchus Rafinesque.) 
Snout broad, depressed, subspatulate or sbovel-sliaped. No spiracle. 
Caudal peduncle very long, strongly depressed, broader than deei). 
Eows of bony bucklers confluent below the dorsal fin, forming a com- 
plete coat of mail on the tail. Tail produced in a filament beyond tbe 
caudal fin. Gill-rakers somewhat fan-shaped. Pseudobranchim obso- 
lete. Species about 4, inhabiting the fresh waters of the United States 
and Central and Eastern Asia. {(T/.d(p7), spade; snout; wi/^, apitear- 
ance.) 
1 / 9 * S. l>SatyrrliyMCliaiS (Rafinesque) Gill. — Shovel-nosed Sturgeon; White Sturgeon. 
Body elongate, tapering into a slender, depressed tail, which extends 
beyond the caudal fin in the form of a filament. This filament is long 
ami slender in the young, but is frequently lost in the adult. Bony 
shields opisthocentrous, sharply keeled, the series confluent below the 
dorsal, obliterating the smaller plates between. Two occipital plates 
with short keels. A spine in front of eye, and one at the posterior edge 
of the rostral “ shovel ” ; snout in the young with a few spines. Barbels 
nearer mouth than tij) of snout. Greatest width of head about half its 
length. None of the fulcra enlarged. Dorsal and anal small. Anal 
partly below dorsal. Gill-rakers small, lamellate, somewhat fan-shaped, 
ending in 3-4 points. Dorsal shields 1 5-18 ;, lateral 41-46; ventral 11- 
13. Head 4 in length. L. 5 feet. Mississippi Valley and streams of 
the Western and Southern States ; common. 
{Acipenser pi atorhyn elms Rafiuesquo, Iclitli. Oli. 1820, 80: Scaphirhynchus rafinesqnei 
Heckel, Arm. Wieuer Mus. Naturgesch. i, 183.5, 71 : Scaphirhynchus cataphractus Giiutlier, 
viii, 345.) 
Subclass HOLOSTEI. 
{The Bony Ganoids.) 
Skeleton bony. V eiitral fin abdominal, with the basilar segments rudi- 
mentary, as in ordinary fishes. Primarj'^ radii of posterior limb generally 
reduced to one rudiment. Suboperculum and preoperculum present. 
* “ lu words beginning with p, p is doubled after a prefix ” {Liddell 4’ Scott, Gr.-Engl. 
Lex. 1858, 213) ; hence Scaphirrhynchops, Remirrhamphus, and all similar words are 
Ijrojjerly written with the double r. 
