768 FISHES — ACIPENSEEID^. 



in the evening, leaping from the surface, throwing their bulky forms en- 

 tirely out of the water. 



In regard to the game qualities of this species, Mr. Hallock says 

 (Sportsman's Gazetteer, 4th Ed., 339) : 



" The long projecting sucker mouth situated almost under the center of the head 

 will sometimes enok in from the bottom the anglers baited hook, iu which case, one 

 may as well try to snub an old log. It is possible, however, to coax him to move occa- 

 sionly, and then you may, or you may not, succeed in bringing Mm to gaff." * * "As 

 a game fish, the sturgeon is not a success." 



5. AciPENSER MACULOsus LeSueur. 



Obio River Sturgeon. 



Acipenser maculoms, LeSueuk, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc, New Series, i, 393. — Gunthek, 

 Cat. Fishes, Brit. Mus., viii, 339, and of authors generally. 



Description. — This species is very similar to the preceding, and all the specimens 

 which the writer has had the opportunity to examine, seem to him to be the 

 young of the preceding. The snout is more pointed than in the Lake Sturgeon ; the 

 skin rougher ; the scutes are more strongly keeled and their spinous points are placed 

 much behind the middle of the shield, and are directed backward more than is the case 

 in the preceding. As observed long ago by Dr. Kirtland (Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv, 

 181?, p. 3U4.), " These characters are not, however, permanent, and therefore are not to 

 be relied upon. If the maculttue of LeSueur, be not the young of the others, their young 

 have never been discovered." 



Habitat, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 



Habits. — The habits of this fish are essentially similar to those of the 

 preceding, and a more careful comparison of the two must be made before 

 any important specific difierences (if such exist) be pointed out. 



Genus 5. SCAPHIRRHYNCHOPS. Gill. 



ScaphirJiynchus, Heckbl, Ann. Wiener Museum, i, 1835, 71 (preoccupied in Ornithology). 

 ScapMrhynchops, Gill, Mss., in Jordan and Copeland's Check List Fishes N. A., Bull 

 Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1876, 161. 



Type, Acipenser platyrhynchus, Eapustesquk. 



Etymology, elcaphe, spade ; rugchos, snout ; ops, appearance. 



Sturgeons with the tail broad, depressed, wider than deep, entirely covered by the 

 confluent series of bony plates ; no spiracles ; snout depressed, triangular, having almost 

 the form of a spade ; tail ending in a long filament ( at least in the young) ; anal fin 

 inserted behind the dorsal. A single species. 



6. SCAPHIRRHYNCHOPS PLATYRHYNCHus (Rafinesquc) Gill. 



Sbovol-nesed Sturi^eon. 



Aoipsenser platorynckw, Bai'inbsqdb (1820), Ichthyologia Ohiensis, 79. — Kbrtland, Bost. 

 Journ. Nat. Hist., v. 25. 



