158 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
It frequents shallow water for spawning, depositing the eggs in grass or weeds or 
about stone piles (Forbes and Richardson, 1908, p. 33), the season of spawning in the 
United States being about June l. 10 The eggs are apparently adhesive, becoming 
attached to stones or other objects. After hatching the young attach themselves by 
means of maxillary disks; they may suspend themselves from the surface film. (Mark, 
1890.) “They are extremely interesting and even beautiful little animals, each marked 
with a broad black lateral band; they are especially noticeable for the evanescent 
lance-shaped upper lobe to the caudal fin.” (Forbes and Richardson, 1908, p. 33.) 
The food of the young seems to consist of insect larvae, Entomostraca, and very small 
fish, making them serious competitors if not direct enemies of the young of useful 
fishes. Garman (1890) found, near Quincy, 111., young long-nosed gar measuring 6 to 
12% inches in length, the average length being 8.1 inches. Presumably they were gar 
of the season. 
The long-nosed gar seems virtually unknown in Lake Pepin (Wagner, 1908), and 
it is much less common in the vicinity of Keokuk than the short-nosed gar, to which 
our observations chiefly relate. The two seem not to be essentially different in habit, 
and the discussion may apply equally well to both species. 
Short-nosed gar. Lepisosteus platostomus Rafiaesque 
DUCK-BILL GAR 
The short-nosed gar occurs throughout the Mississippi Valley, being the more 
common species in the vicinity of Keokuk. The two species are readily distinguished 
by the form of the beak, which in the long-nosed gar, according to observations by 
Stringham at Keokuk, is 14.5 to 20 times as long as the least width (average 16.7), 
while in the short-nosed gar the length varies from 5.7 to 7.4 times the least width 
(average 6.5). 
Richardson (1913a) found the breeding season in the vicinity of Havana, 111., to 
be from the early part of May to the end of June at least. (In 1899 spawning con- 
io Evermann (1899) records the capture of a spawning female taken at Morgan City, La., on Apr. 23, having a standard length 
of 40 inches, weight 9 pounds, weight of ovaries 19 ounces, and number of eggs 36,450. 
