32 



VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



I. Lepisosteus Lacepede {Lepidosteus Agassiz). Palatine teeth 

 uniform; snout very long and narrow: about i species in the fresh 

 waters of North America, and one (L. tropicus Gill) in Central America; 

 flesh usually not used for food, except in the southern States. 



L. osseus (L.). Common garpike. Length 1,300 mm.; head 3; 

 depth 10 to 13; color olivaceous, silvery below; hinder parts with 

 black spots; very young animals with a black lateral band; scales 

 in lateral line about 62: Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley to the 



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Fig. 15. — Alractosleus Iristachiis {Jordan df Evennann) . 



Rio Grande; Atlantic and Gulf slope from Vermont southwards; in 

 rivers and lakes, sometimes entering the sea; common. 



2. Cylindrosteus Rafinesque. Palatine teeth uneven; snout short 

 and broad: 5 species. 



C. platostomus Rafinesque. Short-nosed gar. Length 900 mm.; 

 head 3 to 3.9; depth 8 to 10; color olivaceous, but darker than L. osseus; 

 scales in lateral line 56: Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley to Rio 

 Grande; common; more so southwards. 



3. Atractosteus Rafinesque. Snout broad; large teeth in upper 

 jaw in 2 rows on each side: 3 species. 



A. tristmchus (Block and Schneider). Alligator gar (Fig. 15). 

 Length up to 6,000 mm.; head 3.7; depth 8; color greenish, paler below; 

 scales in lateral line 60: southern States, north to the Ohio and Illinois 

 Rivers. 



Suborder 2. Halecomorphi. — Scales cycloid in shape; vertebrae 

 amphicoelous: i family. 



Family Amiidae. — The bowfins. Body fusiform, compressed, 

 with cycloid, imbricated scales; head subconical, covered with a hard 

 bony helmet; snout short; branchiostegals 10 or 12; no opercular 

 gill or pseudobranchiae ; dorsal lin very long; tail convex behind, some- 

 what heterocercal ; lateral line present: i genus. 



Amia L. {Amiatus Rafinesque). With the characters of the 

 family: i species. 



A. calva L. Dogfish; bowlin (Fig. 16). Length 450 to 600 mm.; 

 head 3.7; depth 4 to 4.5; color dark olive or blackish, with traces of 



