chap, xx.] FISHES. 459 



Family 95.— LEPIDOSTEIDiE. (1 Genus, 3 Species.) 



" Fresh- water fishes, with ganoid scales, and dorsal and anal 

 fins composed of articulated rays." 



Distribution. — The genus Lepidosteus, the Garfishes or Bony 

 Pikes, inhabits North America to Mexico and Cuba. 



Order II.—CHONDROSTEI. 



" Sub-cartilaginous scaleless fishes with heterocercal tail, the 

 skin with osseous bucklers or naked." 



Family 96.— ACCIPENSERID^E. (2 Genera, 20 Species.) 



" Marine or fresh- water fishes with osseous bucklers and inferior 

 mouth." 



Distribution. — Temperate and Arctic regions of the northern 

 hemisphere. Accipenser (19 sp.), comprising the Sturgeons, has 

 the distribution of the family ; most of the species are marine, 

 but some are confined to the Caspian and Black Seas and the 

 great American lakes with the rivers flowing into them, while 

 the Danube, Mississippi, and Columbia River have peculiar 

 species. The other genus, Scaphirhynchus (1 sp.), is confined to 

 the Mississippi and its tributaries. 



Family 97.— POLYDONTHLE. (1 Genus, 2 Species.) 



" Fresh-water fishes, with wide lateral mouth and naked 

 skin." 



Distribution. — The Mississippi and Yang-tse-kiang rivers. 



