CHGNDROPTERYGIL 



ORDEH I. 



CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS LIBERIS. 



Family. 

 STURIONID^. 



AciPENSER. Lin. 



Generic characters. Body elongated ajid angular, defended 

 by indurated plates and, spines, arranged in longitudinal roiDS ; 

 snout pointed, conical; mouth, placed on the under surf ace of 

 the head, tubular, and loiihout teeth. 



A. oxyrinchus. Mitchell. The Sharp-nosed Sturgeon. 



Trans. Lit, et riiilosoph. Soc. N. Y. vol. i. p. 462. 

 Trans, of Amer. Philos, Soc. new series, vol. i. p. 394. 



In May 1838, 1 received of Mr. Freeman, fishmonger in 

 Quincy market, a specimen of a sturgeon, which I suppose to 

 be the " oxyrinchus,'''' Mitchell ; afterwards more minutely de- 

 scribed by Le Sueur. This fish was taken in Charles river at 

 Watertown, and measured 2 feet and 3 inches in length. All 

 the upper part of the body, of a grayish brown color ; inferior por- 

 tion of the sides, silvery ; beneath, white. Whole upper por- 

 tion of the head, bony ; irregularly marked upon its surface ; 

 five longitudinal rows of flattened plates, of the same structure 

 as the covering of the head, but of a lighter color. The lar- 

 gest plates form the dorsal ridge ; they are compressed at their 

 sideS; and terminate above, in strong sharp spines, which are 



