36 TELEOSTEI : HALECOMORPHI. X. 



round black spots, distinct in young ; very young with black lateral 

 band. Length of snout 15 to 20 times its least width; large teeth 

 of upper jaw in one row in the adult. Head 3 in length. D. 8, 

 A. 9, V. 6, P. 10. Lat. 1. 62. L. 5 feet. Great Lakes to Carolina 

 and Mexico ; abundant. (Lat., bony.) 



aa. Beak shorter and broader, the snout not much longer than rest of head. 

 b. Large teeth of upper jaw in one row on each side in adult: (an additional 

 row on the palatines sometimes present in young.) 



45. L. platystomus Rafinesque. SHORT-NOSED GAR-PIKE. 

 Snout usually 1 to 1^ times rest of head, its length 5 to 6 times its 

 least width. Head 3^ in length, otherwise almost exactly as in 

 L. osseus, the color rather darker, the size smaller. L. 3 feet. 

 Miss, valley, etc., less common N. (n\arvs, flat ; ord/xa, mouth.) 



bb. Large teeth of upper jaw in two series, the inner along outer edge of 

 palatines. 



46. L. tristcechus (Bloch & Schneider). ALLIGATOR GAR. 

 MANJUARI. Snout usually shorter than rest of head, its least 

 width 3^ in its length, otherwise essentially like the others ; but 

 reaching an enormous size. L. 10 feet. Ills, to Mexico and Cuba. 



'fff three ; o-rot^oy, row.) 



ORDER X. HALECOMORPHI. (THE BOW-FINS.) 



This group, characterized on page 26, contains a single family 

 among recent fishes. (Lat. halec, herring ; fj.op<f>fj, form.) 



FAMILY XXIII. AMIIDJE. (THE BOW-FINS.) 



Body oblong, robust, with thick cycloid scales. Head sub- 

 conical, bluntish, covered above by a very hard bony helmet; 

 lateral margins of upper jaws formed by the maxillaries, which are 

 divided by a lengthwise suture. Mouth horizontal, its cleft extend- 

 ing beyond the small eye ; lower jaw broad, a broad bony striated 

 gular plate placed between its rami ; premaxillaries not protractile ; 

 jaws each with an outer series of conical teeth, behind them in the 

 lower a band of rasp-like teeth ; small teeth on vomer, palatines, 

 and pterygoids ; anterior nostril with a short barbel ; cheek with 

 a bony shield. B. 10 to 12. No pseudobranchiae, nor opercular 

 gill ; two lanceolate striate appendages on each side of isthmus ; 

 gill rakers very short, stout. Lateral line present. Dorsal fin 

 long and low, nearly uniform ; no fulcra ; anal fin short ; tail hete- 

 rocercal. Vertebra double-convex, as usual among fishes. Air- 

 bladder, somewhat as in the Dipnoi and Batrachia, cellular, bifid in 

 front, connected by a glottis with the pharynx. No closed ovi- 

 duct ; no pyloric cceca. One species known, in the lakes and slug- 

 gish waters of North America, a voracious fish, remarkably 

 tenacious of life, and with soft and pasty flesh. 



