FISHES OF NEW YORK 73 



This fish seldom exceeds 3 feet in length. Its habits are pre- 

 sumably the same as those of the long-nosed gar, and it is 

 equally worthless for food. It may be readily distinguished 

 from the long-nosed species by the shape of its snout and by its 

 more robust form. 



The short-nosed gar inhabits the Great lakes and the Ohio 

 and Mississippi valleys. It is more abundant in the southern 

 part of its habitat. It was not recorded from waters of New 

 York by either Mitchill or De Kay. 



Order CYOLOGANOIDBA 

 Bow fins 

 Family a^wliiidae> 



Bow fins 



Genus amia Linnaeus 

 Body oblong, compressed behind, terete anteriorly; head sub- 

 conical, anteriorly bluntish, slightly depressed, its superficial 

 bones corrugated and very hard, scarcely covered by skin; snout 

 short, rounded; lateral margins of upper jaw formed by the 

 maxillaries, which are divided by a longitudinal suture; jaws 

 nearly even in front; cleft of the mouth nearly horizontal, 

 extending beyond the small eye; lower jaw broad, U-shaped, the 

 rami well separated; between them a broad bony plate, with 

 radiating striae, its posterior edge free; jaws each with an outer 

 series of conical teeth, behind which in the lower is a band of 

 rasplike teeth; bands of small teeth on the vomer and ptery- 

 goids; palatines with a series of larger, pointed teeth; premaxil- 

 laries not protractile; tongue thick, scarcely free at tip; nostrils 

 well separated, the anterior with a short barbel; suborbital very 

 narrow; a bony plate covering the cheek, similar to the plates 

 on the top of the head; operculum with a broad dermal border; 

 branchiostegals 10 to 12; no pseudobranchiae or opercular gill; 

 no spiracle; gills four, a slit behind the fourth; gill membranes 

 not connected, free from the isthmus; two peculiar, long, lanceo- 

 late, obliquely striate appendages on each side of the isthmus, 

 projecting backward and covered by the branchiostegal rays, 



