Jordan and Ever tnann. — Fishes of North America. 629 



Subgenus MASCALONGUS, Jordan. 

 S)-_»-.. LUCIUS MASi^UIXOXGY (Mitchill). 

 (MusKALLiiNGE ; Maskinonqy ; MuscALONGE ; Great Pike.) 

 Head 3j ; depth 6 ; snout 2^ in head ; eye 4 to 6in snout. B. 17 to 19 ; 

 D. 17 ; A. 15 ; scales 150. General form of the common pike, the head 

 a little larger proportionally. Cheeks naked helow, as the opercles are; 

 scaly part of cheeks variable, usually about as wide as eye ; the scales on 

 both cheeks and opercles in about 8 rows ; middle of eye midway between 

 tip of lower jaw and porsterior margin of opercle. Color dark gray ; sides 

 in the typical form, with round or squarish blackish spots of varying size 

 on a ground color of grayish silvery; these sometimes obsolete (immacuJa- 

 /hn), sometimes coalescing in bauds (ohienfiis); belly white ; fins spotted 

 with black. Length 4 to 8 feet. A magnificent fish, by far the largest of 

 its family, reaching a weight of 100 pounds or more; found in the Great 

 Lake region. Upper Mississippi, and northward; also occasionally taken 

 in Ohio River, frequent in Chautauqua Lake, Conneaut Lake, and other 

 clear lakes outside the Great Lake system. The typical form, var. wirjs- 

 quinongy, known by the black spots, is confined to the Great Lakes, their 

 outlets, and tributaries. "A long, slim, strong, and swift fish, in every 

 way fitted to the life it leads, that of a dauntless marauder." (Hallock.) 

 (M<iskhion(je, or Mas Kenosha,* or MasJi-Iunonge, a name variously spelled, 

 applied by the Ojibway Indians to the lake pike and muskallunge.) 



Ksox iHfisi/"i""».'W, Mitchill, "Mirror,f 297, 1824," Lake Erie. Specimeu 47 inches long and 



weighing 30 pounds. D. 21; A. 17, including rudiments; Meek & Newland Proc Ac. 



Nat. Sci. Phila., 1885, 372. 

 Esox masqiiinonfj!/ (Mitchill) Kirtland, Fishes of Ohio, 194, 1838, Lake Erie. 

 EsoxnohiUor, THOMPSON, Proc. Post. Soc. Nat. Hist., iii, 18.50, 1G3, Lake Champlain; Jordan. 



Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 54, 1877, and of most late writers; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis 353, 



1883. 

 Esox uobiU9, Kirtland, Proc. Cleveland Ac. Sci., 1854, 84, Lake Erie; name a elij) of the pen 



for Esox nohilior. 

 Esox alromaciilata, "Kirtland MS." Kirtland, I. c, 1854, 84, under synonymy of Esox iiobilis. 



Represented iu the Ohio River and its tributaries by 



925a. LUCIUS MASQUINONGT OHIENSIS (Kirtland). 



Body with narrow, dark cross shades, which break up into vaguely out- 

 lined dark spots. Specimens of muskallunge from Chautaui^ua Lake show 

 narrow, dark crossbars, which split up into diifuse spots; fins with black 

 spots. These seem to be allied to the typical form masquinongy rather than 

 to var. immaculatiis, but are somewhat diiferent from either in coloration. 

 No constant difference iu other respects is apparent. The name Esox 

 salmonevs, "White with many narrow transversal brown bands, some- 

 what curved ; length 5 feet," seems to belong to this form. The name 

 sahnoneus, however, is not eligible, being preoccupied. 



Esox salmonens, Kafine.sqde, Amer. Monthly Mag., iii, 1818, 447, Ohio River; not Kso.r salmon- 

 eus, Mitchill, 1815, which is Sij nodus /(fteiis. 



*Seo Mather, Forest & Stream, March 18, 1886. According to Mr. H. W. Henshaw, mask ii 

 ugly; kinoiiijr, fish, in the Ojibway dialects. 



fThis rtfercnio is Riven on the authority of l)e Kay. Wo have carefully searched the files of 

 the Mirror and do not find this description. The name masquinongi/ will, in any case, how- 

 ever, hold from the account given by Kirtland. 



