Jordan and E,verniann. — Fis/ies of JVorth America. 027 



922. LUCIUS VERMICULATUS (Lo Sueur). 



(LiTTLK Pickerel.) 



Head 3J ; depth 5 to ; eye large, 2^ in snout, about 6 in head. B. 12 

 (11 to 13) ; D. 11 or 12 ; A. 11 or 12 ; scales 105. Body moderately stout, 

 soniewliat conqjressed ; head rather short, longer than in Lucius ameri- 

 canus, but shorter than in L. reticulatus, the eye being exactly in the 

 middle of the head ; middle of eye nearer tip of chin than gill opening; 

 snout 2^ in head ; caudal well forked. Color green or grayish ; sides 

 with many curved streaks, sometimes forming bars, but more usually 

 forming marmorations or reticulations, the color extremely variable, some- 

 times quite plain ; sides of head usually variegated ; a dark bar down- 

 ward from eye, and one forward; base of caudal sometimes mottled; 

 other fins usually plain. Length 12 inches. Mississippi Valley, tribu- 

 taries of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan south to Mississippi and Arkansas ; 

 not known from east of the Alleghanies nor Texas ; a small species, very 

 abundant in the small streams and bayous of the South and West, {ver- 

 miculatus, with marks like worm tracks.) 



Bjoj; rermictiiiiltis, Le Sueiir, iu CuviER A V.\lenciennes, Iliet. Nat. Poiss., xviil, 333, 1840, 

 AVabash River, New Harmony, Indiana ; (Coll. Lo Sueur); Meek & Newland, Proc. 

 Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1885, 369. 



Esox liueatiis, Le Sueur, iu Ctvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xviii, 335, 184G, 'Wabash 

 River, New Harmony, Indiana. (Cull. Le Sueur.) 



EsDx cToss'is, Agassiz, Anier. Jouru. Sci. Arts, 1854, 308, Tennessee River, Huntsville, 

 Alabama. 



Esox iimhrosvf, Kirtlanp, Proc. Cleveland Ac. Sci., 1854, 79, small bay of Rocky River, 

 Rockport, near Cleveland, Ohio ; Cope, Traus. Anier. I'hilos. Sue. PhiUi., 1800, 409. 



Etoxcypho* Cope, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1805, 78, 'Waterford, Oakland County, Michi- 

 gan; (Coll. Professor Miles); Gunther, Cat., vi, 230, 1806. 



Esox i)orosiis, Cope, Traus. Anier. Philos. Soc. Phila., 1806,408, Waterford, Oakland County, 

 Michigan; sulistitute for cr/pho, regarded as au inept name. (Coll. Professor Miles.) 



Esox salmoyicus, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 352, 1883 ; not of Rafinesque. 



923. LUCIUS KETICULATUS,t (Le Sueur). 

 (Common Eastern Pickerel ; Green Pike ; Jack.) 



Head 3i ; depth 6 ; eye small, about 3i in snout, 8 in head. B. 14 to IG ; 

 D. 14; A. 13 (counting developed rays only); scales 125. Body rather 

 slender, deepest near the middle and tapering backward to a slender 

 caudal peduncle; head long, the snout prolonged, about 2J times in 

 head. Middle of eye midway between tip of chin and gill opening. 

 Cheeks and operclea entirely scaly ; caudal well forked. Color green, of 

 varying shades; sides with golden luster, and marked with numerous 

 dark lines and streaks, which are mostly horizontal, and by their junc- 

 tion with one another produce a reticulated appearance ; a dark band. 



* This form (q/pho =porosus), distinguished mainlj' liy the arched back and steep profile, is 

 probably a variety or accidental form of vennicidalns. 



t "\ solemn, stately, ruminantfish. lurking undiTtho shadow of a lily pad at noon, with still, 

 circumspect, voracious eye, motionless as a jewel set in water, or moving slowly to take up its 

 position; dashing from time to time at sucli unlucky fish or frog or insect as comes within its 

 range and swallowing it at a gulp. Sometimes a striped snake, hound for greener meadows 

 across tho stream, ends its undulatory progress in the same receptacle."— SViwreuw. 



