408 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



barred. Fin-rays: dorsal XII, 1-17, varying to XIII, i-tS; 

 anal II, 12; lateral line with ninety-two-ninety-eight scales; 

 pyloric caeca four to seven, four of them larger than the rest^ 

 of different lengths, all small and shorter than the stomach; 

 the usual number is six, but the two small ones are some- 

 times one or both absent, sometimes duplicated. Length of 

 adult 10 to 15 inches. 



EVERYWHERE to the North, from Quebec to the Ohio 

 River and on north-westward to Montana, wherever the 

 great Wall-eye goes, there is found its little brother, the 

 Sauger. Like the Wall-eye, it is a long, slim, swift, pirate- 

 rigged fish, with a mouth well armed with the sharpest of teeth. 

 It is a fish of finer texture than the Wall-eye, richly shaded 

 with yellow, and translucent when held up to the light. The 

 Sauger ranks as a food fish lower than the Wall-eye, and is 

 usually classed by the lake fishermen as a "soft fish," while the 

 Wall-eye is unquestionably a hard one. But the difference 

 may come solely from the fact that the Sauger grows to a small 

 size, seldom or never more than eighteen inches in length, 

 and oftener not more than a foot. It is a fish of lakes and quiet 

 rivers, often found on sandy bottoms, hence its name of 

 "Sand Pike," heard in many localities. It is however not a 

 Pike, and the name Sauger which belongs to no other fish is 

 the best name that anglers can use for it. The very worst name 

 for either species is the name "Salmon." In fact, for an 

 angler to call any spiny-rayed fish a "Salmon," is an 

 acknowledgment on his part that he is no angler at all, 

 but simply a fish hunter to whom all fishes are so much meat, 

 and who has no care for niceties in language, or for nicety 

 in his work. The fact that the uneducated people of various 

 Southern States who have never seen a Salmon, suppose the 

 Pike-perch to be such, is not a justification for those who 

 know better. 



So far as the game-qualities of the Sauger are concerned, 

 I know nothing which will distinguish him from the Wall-eye 

 or the Perch. He is a carnivorous and voracious fish, not 

 likely to let anything escape which seems to him good to eat. 



