Fishes of Upper Georgia. 353 



LEPIDOSTEID^l. 



LEPIDOSTEUS. 



Lepisosteus Lacepede, "Hist. Nat. des Poissons, V., 1803, 331." 

 (Type L. gavialis Lac. = Esox osseus L.) 

 Lepidosteus Agassiz, Poissons Fossiles, II, 1843. 



40. LEPIDOSTEUS OSSEUS. (Lacepede) Agassiz. 



I shall present elsewhere what I consider to be the synon- 

 ymy of this species, to which for the present all our long- 

 nosed Gars may be referred. A single specimen was taken 

 in the Etowah, which would probably be L. otarius Cope, in 

 Prof. Cope's arrangement (Proc. Phil. Ac. Sci., 1865, 

 80), and L. treculii Dum. in the wonderful scheme of Prof. 

 August Dumeril (Hist. Nat. des Poissons, 1870). This 

 author recognizes 17 valid species of Lepidosteus proper, 

 besides several doubtful ones. These are distinguished by 

 characters often utterly trivial, some of them purely individ- 

 ual and often unlike on different sides of the same fish ; 

 others are dependent on age, — as the diameter of the eye 

 compared with the length of the lower jaw. 



The specimen referred to from the Oostanaula differs from 

 all the other specimens of Gar Pike which I have seen, in its 

 color, it being almost jet black in life. 



I give here the measurements of three Gars, with the 

 characters considered as specific in the schemes of Profs. 

 Dumeril and Cope. 



