i 



THE SAUGER. 



THE PIKE-PERCHES. 



Stizostedion vitreuvi and S. canadense. 



The surest way 

 To take the fish, is give her leave to play, 

 And yield her line. 



QuARLES, Shephcard' s Eclogues, 1644. 



npHE Pike-Perches have been known to the inhabitants of Continental 

 Europe for many centuries, and on account of their elongated form 

 and large teeth were described by Gesner and other mediaeval naturalists 

 under the name Luciopcrca — a name intended to describe their general ap- 

 pearance, since their proportions resemble those of the pikes, while their 

 structure resembles that of the perch, to which they are closely allied. 



Linn;T^us in his ichthyological system, named the Scandinavian species 

 Pcrca Luciopcrca, and placed it in the same genus with the perch, where 

 it remained until the time of Cuvier and Rafinesque. The former set aside 

 this group of fishes in 1817, under the group name of LesSandres," but ne- 

 glected to formally propose the genus named lAiciope7'ca, until the publi- 

 cation of the second edition of his "Animal Kingdom" in 1S29. In the 

 meantime the Sicilian explorer, Rafinesque, had pul)lished in 1820, his 

 " Ohio Ichthyology," and named the ^?,\\ Stizostedion, an appellation which, 

 however meaningless and cacophonous, priority requires shall always be 

 borne by the Pike-Perches. American ichthyologists have already submitted 

 this necessity, but those of the old world still cling to the venerable and 

 euphonious Luciopcrca. 



The Pike-Perches are distributed throughout the waters of the northern 

 hemispheres in much the same manner as the perch, though absent from 



