192 The Scyphophori, Haplomi, and Xenomi 



or frog or insect as comes within its range, and swallowing it 

 at one gulp. Sometimes a striped snake, bound for greener 

 meadows across the stream, ends its undulatory progress in 

 the same receptacle." 



As food-fishes, all the Esocidtz rank high. Their flesh is 

 white, fine-grained, disposed in flakes, and of excellent flavor. 



The finest of the Esocida, a species to be compared, as a 

 grand game fish, with the salmon, is the muskallunge (Esox 

 masquinongy] . Technically this species may be known by 

 the fact that its cheeks and opercles are both naked on the 

 lower half. It may be known also by its great size and by its 



FIG. 151. Muskallunge, Esox masquinongy Mitchill. Ecorse, Mich. 



color, young and old being spotted with black on a golden- 

 olive ground. 



The muskallunge is found only in the Great Lake region, 

 where it inhabits the deeper waters, except for a short time 

 in the spring, when it enters the streams to spawn. It often 

 reaches a length of six feet and a weight of sixty to eighty 

 pounds. It is necessarily somewhat rare, for no small locality 

 would furnish food for more than one such giant. It is, says 

 Hallock, "a long, slim, strong, and swift fish, in every way 

 formed for the life it leads, that of a dauntless marauder." 



A second species of muskallunge, Esox ohiensis, unspotted 

 but vaguely cross-barred, occurs sparingly in the Ohio River 

 and the upper Mississippi Valley. It is especially abundant 

 in Chautauqua Lake.' 



The pike (Esox lucius} is smaller than the muskallunge, and 

 is technically best distinguished by the fact that the opercles 

 are naked below, while the cheeks are entirely scaly. The 

 spots and cross-bars in the pike are whitish or yellowish, and 

 always paler than the olive-gray ground color. It is the most 



