162 AMERICAN FISHES. 



well-grown pound Brook Trout would be considerably more than a 

 match for any of those little Pickerel which have come under my ob- 

 servation. In shape and general proportions, the Long Island Pickerel 

 is not dissimilar to the species last described, the head alone excepted, 

 which, allowance being made for the diiference of size, and the scali- 

 ness of the cheeks and opercula, is, iu all respects, similar to that of 

 the Great Northern Pickerel. 



Its gill-covers do not materially differ from those of the Common 

 Pickerel, except that the lower margin of the suboperculum is some- 

 thing more oblique, giving the posterior edge of the free margin 

 rather an angular form. 



The branchiostegous rays are four in number ; the dorsal fin-rays 

 twenty-two, pectorals sixteen, ventrals ten, anal eighteen, and caudal 

 eighteen, seven above and seven below the greater rays. 



Its color is olive green, darker on the back, and fading into greenish 

 yellow on the sides, irregularly barred with transverse waving bands 

 of dusky brown, whence its designation of Fascintus. The fins are 

 brownish green, generally, without spots or bars ; the pectorals and 

 ventrals the palest, and bordered with dingy yellow. 



Before closing this paper I would mention a very remarkable speci- 

 men of this fish, which was kindly sent to me by my friend, Mr. 

 William Pennington, of Newark, who perceived that it was a fish of 

 unusual character, and knowing that I was engaged in this work, took 

 some pains to procure me a sight of it. 



This individual was caught in a net in the salt-water, in the lower 

 part of Newark bay, and at first sight I was inclined to believe it a 

 nondescript species. 



It weighed something over a pound and a half, was unusually thick * 

 in proportion to its depth, and was in the finest condition. Its color, 

 however, was the most remarkable ; for the back and sides, doMU to 

 the lateral line, were of the richest and most lustrous copper-color, 

 paling on the sides into bright brazen yellow, with the belly of a silvery 

 whiteness. The cheeks, gill-covers, and fins all partook of the same 

 coppary hue, and the whole fish was far more lucent and metallic than 

 any of the family I had before seen. There was not the slightest in- 

 dication of any transverse bars or of any mottling ; nor was there any 

 of that sea-green color which is so peculiar to the Pike family. 



