274 
SAUROID I'lSHES. 
tained seventeen genera of Sauroid Fishes. 
Their only living representatives are the genus 
Lepidosteus,* or bony Pike (PI. 27“ Fig. 1.), 
and the genus Polypterus (Agass. Poiss. Foss. 
Vol. 2. Tab. C.), the former containing five 
species, and the latter two. Both these genera 
are found only in fresh waters, the Lepidosteus 
in the rivers of North America, and the Polyp- 
terus in the Nile, and the waters of Senegal.t 
The teeth of the Sauroid Fishes are striated 
longitudinally towards the base, and have a 
hollow cone within. (See PI. 27% 2, 3, 4; and 
PI. 27. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.) The bones of the 
palate also are furnished with a large appa- 
ratus of teeth. I 
* Lepidosteus Agassiz — Lepisosteus LacepMe. 
t The bones of the skull, in Sauroid Fishes, are united by 
closer sutures than those of common Fishes. The vertebrae arti- 
culate with the spinous processes by sutures, like the vertebrae of 
Saurians; the ribs also articulate with the extremities of the 
spinous processes. The caudal vertebrae have distinct chevron 
bones, and the general condition of the skeleton is .stronger and 
more solid than in other Fishes : the air-bladder also is bifid and 
cellular, approaching to the character of lungs, and in the throat 
there is a glottis, as in Sirens and Salamanders, and many Sau- 
rians. — See Report of Proceedings of Zool. Soc. London, Octo- 
ber, 1834. 
I The object of the extensive apparatus of teeth, over the 
whole interior of the mouth of many of the most voracious 
Fishes, appears not to be for mastication, but to enable them to 
hold fast, and swallow the slippery bodies of other Fishes that 
form their prey. No one who has handled a living Trout or Eel 
can fail to appreciate duly the importance of the apparatus in 
question. 
