192 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



it is partly quoted by DeKay in his" Fishes of New York." On 

 better evidence, perhaps, the generic name Esox is now dis- 

 placed by the more suitable one of Lucius, so that our Mas- 

 calonge must now be called Lucius viasquinougy instead of 

 Esox 7iobilior. 



However confusing and unnecessary, as many anglers are 

 inclined to think is this matter of changes in fish nomenclature, 

 they are not made without good and suf^cient, and in most 

 cases imperative, reasons. It is unfortunate when an old 

 and characteristic name is displaced by a new and, it may 

 be, an incongruous one, but it cannot be helped in the effort 

 to arrive at a more perfect and permanent classification and 

 nomenclature of our fishes. In connection with this recent 

 change in the scientific names of the Mascalonge I might men- 

 tion, as a curious instance of the irony of fate, that its scien- 

 tific specific name is derived from the Chippewa, and its com- 

 mon name from the French. 



The Mascalonge, or Muskellunge as it is usually pronounced, 

 is a magnificent fish, truly the noblest of the pike family, 

 being the largest game-fish of fresh waters, and the only 

 member of the family fit for the table, though it has been 

 much overrated in both respects. Its maximum weight is 

 forty pounds, though it has been taken weighing fifty or 

 sixty, and Dr. E. Sterling, of Cleveland, Ohio, states that 

 he speared one in 1844 weighing eighty pounds! 



As there has always existed among anglers more or less 

 confusion in reference to the identification of the Mascalonge 

 Lucius masquinongy and the true Pike or great northern 

 Pickerel {Lucius lucius), it may not be out of place, here, to 

 say that the different species can always be readily determined 

 by observing the scaling of the cheeks and gill-covers, 

 and the number of branchiostegal rays, without reference to 

 the coloration or markings of the body of the fishes. 



The lower margin of the gill-cover, in most fishes, is pro- 

 vided with a membrane which extends under the throat, where 



