i 
764 FISHES—POLYODONTIDA. 
&. POLYODON FoLIuM Lacepede. 
Paddie Fish; Spoom-bill; Shovel Fishin; Epall ere Duck-bitlea 
Cat. 
Polyodon feuille ( folium), LACEPEDE (1798), Hist. Nat. des Poiss., i, 403. ' 
Polyodon folium, KirtLaNnD, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hict., iv, 21.—GunTuer, Cat. Fishes, Brit. 
Mus,, vili, 346.—JoRDAN (1678), Man. Vert. E. U.S.. 2d. Ed., 344 (and of authors 
generally). 
Spatularia reticulata, Saw (1844), Gen. Zool., v, 362 (and of some authors). 
Platirostra edentula, LESUEUR (1818), Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., i, 223 (based on lal 
and toothless specimens), a Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., v. 22. 
Planirostra spatula, wun, Osteo]. Catal., i, 83. 
Body moderately elongated, the Ble ig cna a large head and long snout form- * 
ing nearly half of the total length, the prolonged opercular flap extending about to the 
ventrals; spatula largely developed, nearly as broad as the head, forming more than ,) 
one third of the total length in the young, and about one-fourth in the adult; fins 
large, all more or jess falcate ; color oa pale below. D.,55 to €0. A., 56. Length, 
2 to 6 feet. 
_— 
Habitat, entire Mississippi Valley. Abundant in the larger streams, seldom enter- 
ing small ones. | 
Diagnosis.—This species is known at once by the broad leaf like pro- 
jection of the snout. It bears little resemblance to any other American 
fish. 
Habtts.—This large fish abounds in the lower parts of the Ohio hy | 
and its principal tributaries, whence it is often taken in nets, but its 
tough shark-like flesh is but little esteemed. | | 
The character of its food has been first made known by Prof. &. A. 
Forbes (Bull. Ills. Lab. Nat. Hist., 2., 82), who remarks: 7 
‘¢ This is by far the most remarkable fish in ourrivers,and is not less remarkable inits 7 
foodthan initsstructure. By the fishermen it is supposed to live on the mud and slime of | 4 | 
the river bottom. The alimentary canal of each of the five specimens examined was found e 
full of a brownish, half fluid mass, which, when placed under the microscope, was seen to an 
be made up chiefly (in ene case almost wholly) of countless myriads of entomostraca, of Me 
nearly every form known to occur in our waters, including many that have been seen as 
yet nowhere but in the stomachs of these fishes. Mixed with these, in varying proportion, 
were several undetermined and probably undescribed species of water worms (Annulata), 
most of them belonging to the family Naidide. Sometimes as much as a fourth of the 
mass was composed of vegetable matter—largely alge, but included fracments of all the 
aquatic plants known by me to occur in the waters of the Illinois, except Ceratophyllum. 4 
Occasional leeches (Clepsine), water bettles (Coptotomus interrogatus, etc.), 2 fow larvae of Mg 
Diptera and Ephemere and water bugs (Corixa) were noticed. Among the crustacea i 
several specimens of the remarkable Leptodora hyalina were found. if 
“TJ have not had time for anything more than a general examination of the mags so ) it 
matter presented—sometimes more than a pint from a single fish—and cannoli, there- a 
fore, give a list of the species. Curiously, very little mud was mixed with the tail 
sy 
