1 882. j Ichthyological Papers. 383 



called upon to chronicle another most lamentable fact, the utter 

 destruction of his manuscript by fire at Riesterstown, Maryland, 

 a few years afterwards. His friends intended to publish his work, 

 but deferred publication in the hope that his son would take up 

 the subject and finish what his father had so nobly begun. The 

 son, however, had no inclination for such study, and the publica- 

 tion was too long delayed. The notes above referred to, a small 

 field book containing drawings and descriptions of twenty species 

 of fishes, together with some popular descriptions that were pub- 

 lished in various newspapers, are all that remain of his labors in 

 this field. These are the property of his eldest daughter, wife of 

 Dr. W. H. Corbusier, Asst. Surg. U. S. A. Although the subject 

 has been carefully developed by subsequent students, yet our re- 

 spectful esteem is due to the merits of this pioneer naturalist, 

 whom misfortune has cast into the shadow of obscurity. It is un- 

 fortunate in the extreme that death should have cut short his 

 career, and the result of his close and careful observations should 

 have been swept away at a flash. That he possessed true merits 

 is observable by a glance at his remaining notes, which likewise 

 serve to indicate the excellence of his intended publication. 



I give some extracts from his MSS. which will prove interest- 

 ing and novel even to ichthyologists. 



/. The Alligator Gar ( Lilholepis spatula Lac. /or.)— But kw of 

 my readers except those who have resided in the South, have an 

 idea of the alligator gar, and for their benefit I will describe this 

 , river robber. The body is cylindrical and elongated, and complete- 

 ly enveloped in a strong coat of mail, formed by strongly toothed 

 quadrangular plates lapping over each other, and held by an ex- 

 ceedingly thick- and tough skin. The head is elongated, with a 

 flattened obtuse snout, something similar to that of a pike, and 

 armed with several rows of strong pointed and trenchant teeth, 

 the outer row being much larger than the inner ones. The bones 

 < >f the head are naked, and form a series of stout plates. So hard 

 is the armor with which this fish is enveloped, that no arm, how- 

 ever strong, can penetrate his back with an axe, and it is only by 

 cutting him in his throat or by a blow on the back of the head 

 that he can be killed. They grow to an immense size, being 

 often seen in the waters of the Mississippi twelve or fourteen feet 

 long, and sometimes reaching a weight of several hundred pounds. 

 He is possessed of prodigious strength, and sets at defiance the 



