CHAPTER LXII 

 ORDER OF GAR FISHES, OR GANOIDS 



GINGLYMODI 



TO the scientific student, the Gar Pike of the middle 

 eastern states and the big Alligator Gar of the 

 Gulf states are two of the most interesting fishes of our whole 

 finny fauna. They are the living representatives of a wonder- 

 ful lot of dead-and-gone species which many thousand years 

 ago laid the foundations of the fish world. By means of the 

 impregnable bony armor with which Nature wisely provided 

 them, they have been able to withstand the attacks of the 

 enemies that otherwise would have exterminated them. 



The simplest, and therefore the earliest forms of fishes 

 are some of the Gan'oids — as the armored fishes are called — 

 whose remains now exist only in the rocks of the Devonian 

 age, far down toward the strata which were formed before 

 life was. The first of these fishes— and they were well-nigh 

 the first of all fishes — had their heads completely encased in 

 solid bone, their eyes were placed in the tops of their heads, 

 and they must have lived upon the bottom of the sea. And 

 who shall say how many years have passed since the days 

 when their dead bodies sank in the mud along the shores they 

 frequented? To-day they are found high up in the rocky 

 cliffs of Devonshire, England. 



It must be remembered, however, that the armored fishes 



293 



