SHORT-NOSED GAE PIKE. 773 



the similarity of the Tjraiichial arches and by t'le presence of the lateral fold in which 

 the pectoral fins are formed ; the way the tail is developed is very like that of the bony 

 fishes. Among the ganoids, it appears, as wdl as in ordinary fishes, the dorsal cord is 

 straight at first, then assumes a slight upward curve at the extremity, when finally 

 there appears the beginning of a lobe underneath pointing toward the complete hetero • 

 cereal tail. All this is as in the bony fibhes ; but this is the permanent condition oi 

 the Gar Pike, while in the bony fishes the extremity of the dorsal cord becomes extinct. 

 The mode of development of the pectoral lobe (very large in this species) furnishes 

 another resemblance. In the brain, and in the mode of formation of the gills, a likeness 

 to the sharks is noticeable. The yonng Gar Pikes move very slowly, and seem to float 

 quietly save an exceedingly rapid vibration of the pectorals and the tip of the tail. 

 They do not swim about much, but attach themselves to fixed ol jects by an extraordinary 

 horse-shoe- shaped ring of sucker-appendages about the mouth. These appendages 

 remain even after the snout has become so extended that the ultimate shape is hinted 

 at ; and furthermore it is a remnant of this feature which forms the fleshy bulb at the 

 end of the snout in the adult. The summing up of Mr. Agassiz's investigations thus 

 far is, that the young Gar Pike has many characteristics in common with the sharks and 

 skates, but is not so different from the bony fishes as has been supposed." 



None of our species, unless it be the Eel has been made the subject of so 

 many useless nominal species as the Gar Pike. This work began with an 

 unfortunate remark of Professor Agassiz (Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts, 1854, 

 360), " I have now in my own collection, not less than twenty-two well 

 characterized species of this genus." For the naming of these twenty- 

 two and about as many more we are indebted to Professor August Dumeril, 

 yet only three, or at most five or six of them all are really distinguishable. 



Sub-genus Cylindrosteus. Kafinesqne. Snout moderate, about as long as the rest of 

 the head. 



8. Lepidosteus platystomus Ratinesque. 



Sliort-aosed Oar Pike. 



Lepiaostemplatostotnus, Rafinesqub, loh.Oh., 72. — KrRTX.AifD, Rept. Zool. Ohio, andBost. 



Journ. Nat. Hist., iv, 20. 

 Lepidoateua platystomus, Agassiz, Amer. Jouni. Sci. and Arts, 1854, 360.— Gunther, Cat. 



Pishes, vii, 329. — Storkr, Synopsis, 466. — Wildbr, Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Soi., 167b, 



B. 151, and of anatomists generally. 

 Cylindroateus platystomus, Atjgdst Dcherjx, Hist. Nat. des Poissons, 1870.— Jordan, Ind. 



Geol. Surv., 1874, 227 ; Bull. Baff. Soc, 1876, 96 ; Man. Vert., 308. 

 Lepisoateus albus, Ratinesque, Ich. Oh., 73. 

 Cylindroateua albus, Cope, Proc. Phil. Acad. Sci., 1865, 86. 

 Lepidostmsplatyrhynehua, DjkKay, Fishes N. T., 273, 1842. 

 CyUndrosteusplatyrliynchus, Dumeril, op. cit. 

 Lepidoaieas grayi, Agassiz, Poissons FossUes, ii, 2. 3. 

 Lepidoateua ( Cylindrostms) latirostris, Girard, Pac. R. R. Rept., x, 353. 

 Cylindrosteus latirostris, Cope, 1. o. 

 Lepidosleua {Cylindrosteus) ocaUtus, Winchell, Proc. Phil. Acad. Soi., 1864, 183. 



