670 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



they are the most beautiful of the fresh -water fishes of the State. 

 The young, however, are seldom met with, more seldom, indeed, 

 than adult specimens, which seems to show that the species does 

 not spawn in fresh water, at least not in the Delaware, unless it 

 is in the bay, and that only the grown specimens come, as a 

 general thing, into strictly fresh water. 



" This species has been seen in the Delaware at Water Gap, but" 

 generally they do not go above Trenton." 



L. platystomus, Raf. {crassus.) Short-nosed Gar Pike. 



Beak a little longer than rest of head. West of Alleghanies ; 

 more abundant southward. Fresh water. Doubtful if same as 

 crassus referred to in following. 



" Prof. Cope, in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, makes mention of this species with the 

 following note : ' The type specimen was probably taken in 

 brackish water at Bombay Hook, near the mouth of the Dela- 

 ware River.' This will indicate a species of gar which must be 

 very rare in the Delaware, as among many specimens nothing 

 agreeing with it has been met with by the writer. In habits it 

 is probably very similar to the preceding, which, however, is a 

 fresh-water fish." 



(Skeleton bony.) 



Section PHYSOSTOMI. 



Fishes having an open duct between the air-bladder and the gullet. 



Order NEMATOGNATHI. 



No sub-opercle nor symplectic ; supra-occipital and parietals anchy- 

 losed, also co-ossification of anterior vertebrae; precoracoid present; 

 skin naked or with bony plates. 



*A11 tlie Physosiomes except the orders Netnatognathi and Apodes, and all the Phy- 

 soclists except tlie Pediculati, Plectognathi and Lophohranchii, are often grouped into 

 one order, the Teleocephali. 



