LBPIDOSTEID^E. CXIH. 307 



FAMILY CXIIL LEPIDOSTEID^E. 



(The Oar Pikes.) 



Body elongated, sub - cylindrical, covered with hard, 

 enamelled, lozenge - shaped, ganoid plates; snout elon 

 gated, spatulate, or beak -like; upper jaw of several 

 pieces, longer than the lower, which is formed of as 

 many parts as in Reptiles; both jaws and palate armed 

 with bands of rasp -like teeth, and series of larger, 

 conical ones; fins with fulcra (elongated modified scales) 

 in front; dorsal and anal short and placed far back, 

 moderately high; vertebrae concavo-convex, with ball 

 and socket joints as in Reptiles; air bladder cellular, 

 like the lungs of Reptiles, connected with the pharynx; 

 stomach not ccecal but with numerous pyloric append 

 ages ; intestine with rudimentary spiral valve ; no spir 

 acles; branchiostegals three; pseudobranchias present. 

 Fresh waters of N. A., from New England to the Rocky 

 Mountains, S. to Central America and Cuba. Genera 

 two or three (Cylindrosteus seems to us to be rather a 

 sub-genus of Lepidosteus]\ species probably about five 

 although forty have been described; until some more 

 tangible distinctions are shown, we can admit but one 

 in each genus.* 



* In a recent work on these fishes, Prof. August Dumeril very laboriously 

 distinguishes the following &quot;species&quot; among the specimens of Lepidosteus in 

 the Museum at Paris: 



L. osseus, (L.) (= L. gavialis, Lac.); L. louisianensis, Dum. (= L. oxyurus, 

 Raf. = Sarchirus vititatus, Raf.); L. harlani, L. ayresi, L. smilhii, L. copei, L. 

 lamarii, L. clintonii, L. troostii, L. piquotianus, L. lesueurii, L. elizabeth, L. 

 thompsoni, L. horatii, L. milberti, L. treculii, Dumeril ; and L. huronensis. Rich. 

 Of Cylindrosteus, he finds G. platystomus ( Raf . ) ; C. productus (Cope); C. pla- 

 tyrhynchus (DeK.). C. agassizii, C. rafinesquei, C. bartoni, C. castelnaudii and 

 C. zadocM, Dum. 



Most of these nominal species are based upon the most trifling individual 

 differences, and often the right side of a specimen indicates one &quot; species,&quot; and 

 the left another. As matters stand, we have no alternative but to reject them 

 all, and to wait for the time when systematic writers shall be wiser or more 

 honest. 



