LEPISOSTEUS GAKPIKES 35 



Illinois about as L. osseus, occurring in 57 collections, from Rock 

 River, the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Ohio. It is locally 

 known by Illinois River fishermen as the " duck-bill gar," 

 though the name " short-billed gar" is commoner. 



The spawning season at Havana in 1898 was May, while in 

 1899 it continued until August. Females with spent ovaries 

 were taken as early as May 10 by Dr. Kofoid in 1899. The habits 

 of this gar are not otherwise known to be different from those of 

 the preceding species. 



LEPISOSTEUS TRISTCECHUS (BLOCK & SCHNEIDER) 



ALLIGATOR-GAR 



Bloch & Schneider, 1801, Syst. Ichth., 395 (Esox). 



G., VIII, 329 (viridis); J. & G., 92 (Litholepis) ; M. V., 36; J. & E., I, 111; N., 51 

 (adamanteus); J., 69 (Litholepis spathula); F., 84 (Litholepis); L., 8. 



Length 5 to 8 feet; depth in length 8, in distance from eye to caudal 7; 

 length of caudal peduncle rather less than depth of body. Color greenish, 

 paler below, adult usually without spots. Head (including beak) 3.7 in 

 length ; beak typically somewhat shorter and broader than in L. platostomus, 

 its length about 5.3 in distance from eye to caudal, its least width about 4J/2 

 in its length. Dorsal rays 8; anal 8. Lateral line 56; transverse series 22. 

 Description based on a mounted specimen 6 feet 6^ inches in length to base 

 of caudal, owned by Mr. Sherman Reubel, Grafton 111. Specimen 7 ft. 2 

 in. long in State Museum at Springfield. Specimen 5 ft. 6 in. long in Uni- 

 versity of Illinois Museum. 



The home of the alligator-gar is in the streams of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, from Mexico to Cuba. It ascends the Mississippi above 

 St. Louis, and has occasionally been taken in the lower Illinois 

 River. It is said by Dr. Jordan to reach a length of 20 feet. 



Little is definitely known of the habits of this species. 

 Many stories have been told of its gigantic size and ferocious 

 and uncanny habits, some of them doubtless more or 'ess fanci- 

 ful. A picturesque and valuable account of the habits of the 

 alligator-gar by Geo. P. Dunbar, a Southern naturalist, may be 

 consulted in the American Naturalist for May, 1882, pp. 383-385. 

 Its size and strength are such that the ordinary apparatus of 

 the river fisherman will not hold it unless it chances to be caught 

 at some unusual disadvantage, and it is consequently rather 

 rarely seen. Its powers of destruction must be enormous, and 

 it seems to take, in the fresh waters of the country, the place 

 filled by sharks in the high seas It was formerly made into oil, 



