352 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



167.— ESOX Linnaens. 

 Pikes. 



(Linuteus, Sj'stema Naturae : tj^ie Esox lucius L.) 



Characters of the genus included above. (Latin, esox, a pike; Greek, 

 iffo^; probably from iVw<r, equal; d|y<r, sharp.) 



a. Cheeks as well as opercles entirely scaly ; branchiostegals 11-14 ; color greenisli, 

 reticulated. (PicoreUus* Raf.) 

 h. Branchiostegals normally 12. 



573. E. aBneB'flcaiiMS Gmeliu. — Banded Pickerel. 



Body short and robust; head heavy, with blunt short snout, ; eye 

 rather large, ab^^ut 5 in head, its diameter nearly half the length of the 

 snout, its posterior margin scarcely behind middle of head; upper 

 branchiostegals scaly. Dark green ; sides with about twenty distinct, 

 blackish, curved bars, sometimes obscurely marked, but not distinctly 

 reticulated ; a black bar below eye, another from upper edge of opercle 

 through eye to snout. Head 3f ; depth 5i. B. 12-13; D. 11; A. 11; 

 Lat. 1. 105. L. 12 inches. A small pickerel, abundant from Massachu- 

 setts to, Florida, in streams east of the mountains. 



{Esox lucius, ftamericanus Gmelin, Systoma Natural, 1788, 1390: Esox viger Le Siieur, 

 Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. i, 415: Esox fasciatns Dekay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 

 224: Esox ornatus Storer, Fish. Mass. 313: Esox niger Giinthcr, vi^ 229: Esox ravencU 

 Holbr.Ich.S.C. 1860,201.) 



574. E. §a.llliOBieus Raf. — Little Piclcerel. 



Body moderately stout, somewhat compressed ; head rather short, 

 longer than in E. americanus, but shorter than in U. retlculatus, the eye 

 being exactly in the middle of the head ; eye large, less than 3 times in 

 snout, about G 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 vari- 

 able, sometimes quite plain ; sides of head usually variegated ; a dark 

 bar downward from eye, and one forward ; base of caudal sometimes 

 mottled; other fins usually plain. Head 3^; depth 5-G. D. 11; A. 11; 

 Lat. 1. 105. L. 12 inches. Mississippi Valley and southeastward, a 

 small species very abundant in the small streams and bayous of the 

 South and West. 



(Rafiuesque, Ich. Oh. 1820, 70 ; Jordan, Man. Vert. ed. 2d, 268 : Esox umhrosus Kirt- 

 laud, Cleveland Annals of Science, 1854, 79 : Esox umbrosus Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. 

 Soc. Phila. 1866, 409: Esox cypho Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1865, 79: Esox 

 cijpho Glinther, vi, 230: Esox porosus Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Phila. 1866, 408. This 

 form {cxjpho =i}orosus), distinguished mainly by the arched back and steep profile, is 

 jjrobably a variety or accidental form of the preceding. ) 

 * Rafiuesque, Ich. Oh. 1820, 70 : type Esox vittatus Raf. (A latinization of pickerel.) 



