. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. CHAPTER LVIII THE ORDER OF GAR FISHES, OR GANOIDS GINGL YMODI To the scientific student, the Gar Pike of the middle eastern states, and the big Alligator Gar of the Gulf states are two of the most inter- esting fishes of our whole finny fauna. They are the living representatives of a wonderful lot of dead-and-gone species which many thousand years ago laid the foundations of the fish world. By means of the impregnable bony armor with which Nature wisely provided them, they
. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. CHAPTER LVIII THE ORDER OF GAR FISHES, OR GANOIDS GINGL YMODI To the scientific student, the Gar Pike of the middle eastern states, and the big Alligator Gar of the Gulf states are two of the most inter- esting fishes of our whole finny fauna. They are the living representatives of a wonderful lot of dead-and-gone species which many thousand years ago laid the foundations of the fish world. By means of the impregnable bony armor with which Nature wisely provided them, they have been able to withstand the attacks of the enemies that otherwise would have exterminated them. The simplest, and therefore the earliest, forms of fishes are some of the Gan'oids,—as the ar- mored fishes are called,—whose remains now exist only in the rocks of the Devonian age, far doT\Ti toward the strata which were formed ?feefore life was. The first of these fishes—and they were well-nigh the first of all fishes—had their heads completely encased in solid bone, their eyes were placed in the tops of their heads, and they must have hved upon the bottom of the sea. And who shall say how many years have passed since the days when their dead bodies sank in the mud along the shores they frequented? To-day they are found high up in the rocky cliffs of Devon- shire; England. It must be remembered, however, that the ar- mored fishes were not the only ones which existed in those early days. The same rocks have yielded to science the remains of lung-fishes, sharks, and sturgeons; but the so-called "bony fishes" of to- day were undoubtedly of later development than the foregoing. Our two Gar Fishes are therefore to be regarded as living relics of the Devonian age, or "Age of ; There are others; but for an introduction to them, as well as the fossil forms, the reader is referred to Le Conte's "; The Long-Nosed Gar Pike' is the spec
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