CLUPEOIDE^. 237 



[86.] 1. Lepisosteus Huronensis. Northern Mailed-fish. 



Family, Clupeoideae. Genus, Lepisosteus. Lacepede, Cuvieh. 



In this genus the intermaxillaries, labials, and palate-bones, united to the vomer 

 and ethmoid, form a long snout, the under jaw is equally long, and the whole 

 interior surfaces of both are rough like a file with minute teeth, their margins being 

 armed with long pointed ones. The gill-covers are joined on the throat by a 

 common membrane, which is supported on each side by three rays. The body is 

 invested with scales of a stony hardness ; the dorsal and anal are opposite to each 

 other and far back. The two exterior rays of the caudal, and the anterior ones of 

 the other fins, are furnished with scales whose projecting edges produce serratures. 

 The stomach is continuous with a slender intestine which makes two folds and 

 hns many pyloric cseca. The air-bladder, which is cellular as in Amia, extends 

 the whole length of the abdomen. The Lepisostei acquire a large size, and 

 their flesh forms an agreeable article of diet. They abound in the rivers and lakes 

 of the warmer parts of America. — Regne Animal. 



The Northern Mailed-fish inhabits Lake Huron, where it is speared by the 

 natives in the marshy inlets during the summer season. It also exists in Lake 

 Ontario, from whence a specimen, now in the York Museum, was brought by 

 Captain C. Dalton. La Hontan mentions it in the following terms : " he Poisson 

 arme est de trois pieds et demi de longueur ou environ ; il a des ecailles si fortes et 

 si dures quil est impossible quaucun autre poisson puisse Toffenser ; ses ennemis 

 sont les Truites et les Brockets, mais il sait tres-bien se defendre contre leur 

 attaque par le moyen de son bee pointu qui a tin pied de longueur*, et qui est aussi 

 dur que sa peau. II est delicat, et sa chair est aussi ferme que blanche." The 

 satety of this fish depends more on its defensive than on its offensive armour, for, 

 notwithstanding the power ascribed to its beak by La Hontan, its jaws are too 

 feeble to enable it to assail a large trout or pike with advantage. The general 

 resemblance of its bill to the muzzle of a gavial is very striking, and it is probable 

 that, like that animal, it retains its prey in its jaws till life is extinguished. The 

 under jaw being, however, articulated before the orbit, where there is no space for 

 a strong muscular apparatus, it cannot, like the crocodiles, whose under jaw is pro- 



* An individual three feet and a half long would have the head and bill together a foot long, if proportional to our 

 specimen. 



