42 SPATULARIDJE. LEPIDOSTEID.E, OR BONY-PIKES. 



ever, is not esteemed. The Sterlet is a smaller specie?, about 

 two feet long ; which is found in the Russian rivers, and is con- 

 sidered a great delicacy. All the species are valued on account 

 of the excellent Isinglass which is yielded by their air-bladders ; 

 and their roe is salted and prepared by the Russians, forming a 

 dish termed caviare. More than 400,000 Ibs. of this have been 

 prepared in the Caspian fishery in a single year. 



5P7. The little family of the SPATULARIDJE includes a few 

 fishes, nearly allied to the Sturgeons, in which the skin is quite 

 naked ; they are also rendered remarkable by the production of 

 the snout into a long leaf-like organ, often nearly as long as the 

 whole body. The hinder margins of the opercula also are pro- 

 duced far back, forming an acute angle, which reaches nearly to 

 the middle of the Fish. The mouth is wide, and very different 

 in its structure from that of the Sturgeons. These singular 

 Fishes are found only in the large rivers of North America. 



598. The LEPIDOSTEID^E, or Bony-pikes, constituting the first 

 family of the recent Ganoid Fishes with an osseous skeleton, have 

 the body of an elongated form, closely resembling that of the 

 common Pike of our lakes and rivers, but covered with a num- 

 ber of lozenge-shaped bony plates, arranged in oblique series, in 

 which each plate overlaps the one beneath it, whilst it is attach- 

 ed to its neighbour in the next row by means of a peculiar pro- 

 cess. The jaws in these curious fishes are very narrow and 

 elongated, and armed with a double series of conical teeth ; the 

 tail is unsymmetrical, and both margins of the caudal fin, as well 

 as the anterior margins of the other fins, are protected by a 

 double series of sharp bony scales called fulcra. The head bears 

 a pair of spiracles. One of the most remarkable peculiarities in 

 the structure of these Fishes is presented by the vertebral column, 

 which is composed of vertebra?, the bodies of which are united 

 by regular articulations ; a structure which is only met with 

 elsewhere amongst the Reptiles. The Bony-pikes inhabit the 

 fresh waters of America, extending as far to the north as the 

 great lakes. Several species have been described, some of them 

 attaining a length of about three feet ; their flesh is said to be 

 very good. 



