FOREST, LAKE, AND RIFER 



clature of the species, and that these long and 

 wide-jawed monsters of twenty, thirty, and even 

 forty pounds in weight were not the ordinary pike 

 at all, — the pickerel of many American anglers, 

 — but the maskinonge, or Esox nobilior, otherwise 

 known as the Lucius masquinongy . It is a simple 

 matter, of course, to satisfy one's self by observing 

 the scaling of the cheek and gill-covers, and the 

 number *of branchiostegal rays, as to the identifica- 

 tion of the maskinonge and of the true pike, or 

 great northern pickerel, and this, without refer- 

 ence to the coloration or markings of the body of 

 the fishes. But many of those who have not taken 

 the trouble, or have not had the advantage of 

 carefully examining them, are sceptical on the 

 subject, because of the immense size to which Esox 

 lucius attains in northern Quebec. When speci- 

 mens of the fish, or even good photographs of 

 them, can be obtained, it is quite easy for even the 

 most casual observer to distinguish between the 

 elongated form of the light-colored markings of 

 the side, and the smaller, darker, and rounder 

 spots of the maskinonge. I have seen a forty- 

 nine-pound pike which was taken by Mr. William 

 Hayes, of London, in Lac Tschotagama, in 1890, 

 and one of thirty-five pounds which was brought 

 to Quebec from the Peribonca River by Colonel 

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