83 



form obtuse thin and veined with one main nerve. Brown a* 

 bove, white beneath. 



Sgualus sfiathula Lacep. Poiss. 1, p. 403, tab. 12, fig. 3, 



Poiyodon folium Lacep. and Auct. mod. 



Sfiatularia. Schneider's Ichthyology. 



This singular fish has often been described and figured, but 

 I ha/e not seen a single figure of it perfectly correct. It is a 

 rare fish, occasionally seen in the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, 

 &c. disappears in winter, I saw several at the falls in Sep- 

 tember 1818. It is caught in the seines and sometimes bites 

 at the hook. It is not eaten. Length from one to three feet. I 

 s hall add an exact description of it. An oblong redish spot at 

 the base of the snout, which is brown membranaceous, with a 

 thick cartilaginous nerve in the middle and many veins, broader 

 and obtuse at the end. Eyes round small black, before the 

 mouth, a small nostril in front of them. Mouth large, similar 

 to that of a shark, with small crowded teeth on the jaws and 

 the tongue, this is large thick and similar to a file. Gill cover 

 very long membranaceous reaching the abdominal fins. A lat- 

 eral line following the curve of the back. All the fins brown, 

 nearly rhomboidal, with an obliqua redish band, a nd a multi - 

 tude of small crowded rays , inserte d on a thick /leshjt 

 lump: tile UUPSaffin larger an'd rather more anterior than the 

 anal. Tail very obliqual, serrated above: lobes not very differ- 

 ent in size, but extremely in shape and situation, the lower one 

 broader, shorter, and nearly triangular. 

 XXXIV Genus. Paddlefish. Planirostra. Planirostne: 



Differs from Poiyodon, by having no teeth whatever and the 

 gill-cover radiated with a short appendage! 



By the want of teeth this genus is intermediate between Po- 

 iyodon and Jlcciftenser. It was first described by Lesueur, un- 

 derlie name of Platirostra (by mistake) instead of Planirostrs. : 

 I had called it in manuscript Megarhinus fiaradoxus. 



103d Species. Toothless Paddlefish. Planinostra eden. 

 tula. Planirostre edentc. 



Head as long as the body, snout longer than the head, some- 

 what k cuneiforjrjj obtuse, and thin, with two longitudinal nerves 



