770 FISHES — LEPIDOSTEID^. 



grow larger backward ; top and sides of head bony and rugose ; opeicnia wellrdeveloped ; 

 gill openinga rather large ; branohiostegals three ; fins without spines, but all preceded 

 by fulcra : dorsal sboit aud rather high, rather behind the anal fin and similar to it; 

 ventral fins large, abdouiinal ; pectorals inserted very low ; air bladder large, cellnlar, 

 having Bomewhat the fnnclions of alnng, communicating with the pharynx by a sort of 

 glottis; stiimach not coacal, but with numerous pyloric appendages; intestine with a 

 rndimentary spiral valve. 



Fishes of large isize, inhabiting the fresh waters of North America, from the Great 

 Lakes to Cei^tral Anibtioa and Cuba, the last relics of the Ancient Ganoid Fauna, " left 

 to show us what the antient Fishes were like, as Saturn's rings to show us how the 

 world was made." There are bat, two genera now extant, and the number of species 

 is small, X)erhap8 not exceediug three. Numerous fossil genera aud species are known. 



Analysis of the Genbra of Lbpidostbid^. 



*Large teeth of the jaws in a single series Lkpidostktjs. 6. 



**Large teeth uf the jaws in two series ; snout broad, depressed, about as long as the 

 rest of the head Litholepis. 7. 



GuKUS 6. LEPIDOSTEUS. Lacepede. 

 Lepisosttus, Lacepede (lt03), Uist. Nat. des Poiss., v, 331. 

 Lipidosteus, Agassiz, Poiseons Fossiles, ii, 'i. 

 Cylmdrosieus, Raflviesqub (IS'.'O), Job. Ohiensis, 72. 



Type, Lepisosleus gavialia, Lao. ; £sox oaseus, L. 



Etymology, lipis, scales; osteon, bone. 



Sub-gtnus Lepidosieua. Snout very sleoder, much longer than the rest of the head. 



7. LEPiDOSTEua ossEus (Linnaeus) Agassiz. 

 I..ODg-nosed Oar Pike; Bill Fish. 



Eaox oaseus, LiNN.a:u8, Syst. Nat , i, 516.— Bloch and Schnkidbk, 392.— Mitchill, Trans. 



Lit. and Phil. See, i, 44 ; Am Monthly Mag., ii, 321.— Shaw, Gen. Zool., v, 115. 

 Lepidoaieus oaseua, Agassiz, PoisB(>n8 Fossiles, ii, 2.— Stoker, Synopsis, 465. — Cope, Proo. 



Phil. Acad. Sci., 1864, W.— Putnam, Bull M. C. Z , 1863, 2.— Gdnthbk, Cat. Fishes, 



viii, 330. — DuMBKiL, Hist. Nat. des Poissons, 1870.— Jordan, Ind. Qeol. Surv., 1874, 



226; Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist, le76, 96; Man. Vert., 1876, 308, and of many 



writers. 

 f Etoxviridia, Gmblin, L I., 1789, (after Catesby). 



Lepisoateua gavialia, Lacepkdk, v, 333, li0.i.— Guichenot, Mig. Zool., 1839, Poissons, 5. 

 SarcUrus vitiaiua, Eapinesque, Ich. Oh., 1820, 79. 

 Lepiaosteus oxyurma, Eafinksqub, Ich. Oh., 73.— Kirtland, Kept. Zool. Ohio., 170, 186; 



Bost. Joarn. Nat. Hist., iv, 16.— Thompson, Hist. Vt., 145, 1842. 

 Lepidoaieua oxyurua, Agassiz, Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts., 1854, 360. — Putnam, Bull. M. 



C. Z., 1863, 2.— Cope, Proo. Phil. Aoad. Sci., 1865, 87. 

 iepiso8<eus longiroatris, Rafinesqub, Ich. Oh., 1820, 70 (based on the species described 



by Mitchell " under the obsolete name otEaox osaeut). 

 Lepidosieue longiroairU, Eichardson, F. B. A., iii, 237.— DkKat, Fishes N. Y., 274. 



