250 Stover's Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 



head, including the operculum and snout, is longer than one half the total length of the fish, 

 and the snout exceeds the united length of the head and operculum. Above, of a beautiful 

 steel-blue ; throat and abdomen white, and the gill-covers maculated by stellate impressions. 

 Caudal fin bilobed ; the lower lobe shorter, broader, and less oblique than the upper, which 

 is serrated on its superior edge. 



D. (?). P. (?)• V. (.'). A. (?). C. (?). Length, 1 to 5 feet. 



Ohio River and its tributaries, Hildreth, Clemens, Kirtland. 



Polyodon feuille (Lacepede), Griffith's Cuv., x. p. 591. 



Spatularia reticulata, Reticulated Spatularia, Shaw's Gen. Zoo!., v. p. 3G2, pi. 156. 



Polyodon folium, Western Spade-fish, Raf., Ichth. Ollien., p. 82. 



" " Wilson, Encyclop. Brit., Art. Ichth. (?th edit), p. 230. 



11 " Spoon-bill Sturgeon, Paddle-fish, Miichill, Hildreth, Clemens, Siiliman's Journal, xn. 



p. 201, plate. 

 " " " Kirtland, Boat. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv. p. 21, pi. 2, fig. 1. 



GENUS III. PLATIROSTRA, Lesueur. 

 Jaws, tongue, and throat destitute of teeth. Snout flattened, elongated, 

 and spatuliform. Fins and body closely resembling those of the Sturgeon, 

 but without plates. The tail only is covered on each side by small bony 

 plates, as in that genus. 



1. Platirostra edentula, Lesueur. 



Snout not so long as one third of the body, dilated and rounded at the end. The skin sup- 

 porting the gill-covers expanding and attenuating to a point posteriorly almost to the end of 

 the pectoral fin. Tail large, notched with pointed lobes. Livid brown above, with small 

 blackish spots upon the head ; beneath white, with a few spots. 



D. 58. P. 26. V. 40 to 50. A. 56. C. 15. Length, 4 to 5 feet. 



Ohio River, Lesueur, Kirtland. Mississippi River, Kirtland. 



Platirostra edentula, Lesueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc., i. p. 22S. 

 " " " Say's Append. Long's Expedition. 



" " (( Kirtland's Report, p. 197. 



" " " Dekay's Report, p. 347. 



" " Toothless Spoon-bill, Kirtland, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., v. p. 22, pi. 7, fig. 2. 



ORDER II. PLAGIOSTOMI. 



Gills fixed by their external edges, with five small external openings on each 

 side. No opercle. Jaws represented by the palatine and postmandibulary 

 bones, which alone are armed with teeth. Pectorals and ventrals always 

 present ; the latter (in the male) furnished on their internal margins with long 

 appendages. 



