Eso.v Lucius, Lin., Hi/st. Nat., oil. X, fom. I, p. ;j]4; Bl., 

 Naturg. Fisch. Dcutschl., pari. I, p. 229, tab. XXXII; 

 Retz., Fna Suec. Lin., p. 350; PjU.l., Zoogr. Ross. Asiat., 

 vol. Ill, p. 336; Ekstb., Vet. Akad. Handl. 1831. p. 75; 

 NiLSs., Prod}-. Ichthi/ol. Scand., p. 36 ; Richardson, Fna 

 Bor. Amer., part. Ill, ]>. 124: Fr., Ekstr., ■'<hand. Fish., 

 ed. 1, 11. 4P, V. Wit., lab. X; Cuv., Val., l/i.^t. Nat. Poiss., 

 vol. XVIII, p. 279; SuNDEV., Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Forli. 1851, 

 p. 11)4; Kr., Damn. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 236; 'Su,s&., ISkand. 

 Fna, Fisk., p. 348; Sunuev., Fiskyng. Utveckl., Vet.-Akad. 

 Haudl. 1855, p. 11; Stockh. L. Hush.-S.allsk. Haudl., H. 6 

 (1855), pp. 82, 91, 167; Hckl, Kn.. Sitsswasserf. Ostr. 

 .Von., p. 287; SiKi)., iS'usswasserf. Mitlelevr., p. 325; Mgrn, 

 Fint. Fiskfna, (disp. Helsingfors 1863), p. 66; Gthr, Cat. 

 Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VI, p. 226; Canestr., Fna Ital., pt. Ill, 

 p. 21; LcN., Poiss. lac Lem., p. 161, tab. XIX; Coll., Forh. 

 Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, Tilltegsh., p. 175; 1879, No. 1, 

 p. 94; Olss., Ofvers. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 1876, No. 3. p. 131; 

 1882, No. 10, p. 48; Malm, Ghgs, Boh. Fna, p. 550; Fed- 

 DEiis., Nalurli. Tidskr. Kbhvu, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 81; Bncke, 

 Fisch. Fischer., Fischz. 0., W. Preuss., p. 165; Mor., Hist. 

 Nat. Poiss. Fr., torn. Ill, p. 466; Mela, Vertebr. Fenn., 

 p. 355; tab. X; Jord., Gilb., Bull. U. S. Nat. Miis., No. 16, 

 p. 353; Dat, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. II, p. 139, tab. 

 CXXVI; M6b., Hcke, Fisch. Osts., p. 134; Reut., Sundm., 

 Finl. Fisk., tab. XII; LiLLJ., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 

 476; Fat., Fne Vert. Suisse, vol. V, p. 419. 



Eso.v estor, Le Sueur, Val. p. p., uoc- Dekay; vide Jiirp., 

 Gilb., 1. c. 



The iiiaxiiiiuin .•*ize Mttaiued by the Pike in Sweden 

 may be estimated, on the autiiority of several trust- 

 worthy statemeut.s from different places, at a length of 

 19 dm. and a weight of 26 kilo". Pike of tliis size 

 are, however, at least in our times, of rare occurrence; 

 most of tlie specimens taken measure between 3 and 

 12 dm. The relation between the length and weight 

 varies in different individuals. In old and nearly full- 

 grown Pike the weight increases in a greater propor- 

 tion than the lengtli. 



The elongated body becomes shallower at tlie head 

 and tail; but between tiiese points the depth is almost 

 uniform, so long as the belly is not distended with 

 food or tumid organs of generation. The gi-ea.test depth 

 measures as a rule 15' 2 — 17 ?6 of the length, and the 

 greatest breadth is rather more than half, as a rule 

 about 52 — 57 %, of tlie greatest depth. In a transverse 

 section tlie body is more or less distinctly quadrilateral, 

 with rounded angles, and broadest in the dorsal region, 

 growing more or less compressed towards the lielly. 



K. 999 



Tlie back is alwaj'S broad and convex, the belly mostly 

 Hat. Tlie least depth of the body measures in the fry 

 about 35 — 36 ?/y, in adult Pike about 38 — 43 %, of the 

 greate.st depth, or in the formei- about 17 — 20^, in the 

 latter about 24 — 2K %, of tlu' length of the head. 



The length of the head measures in the fiy (about 

 V2 dm. long) about 32 % of that of the body, in full- 

 grown Pike aliout 27 — 30 % thereof. Its posterior out- 

 lines form an uninti'rrujjted continuation of those of the 

 body, but in front of the eyes it is depres.sed into a 

 hollow, with the sides somewhat widened in front, and 

 the tip rounded in an horizontal direction, thus acquir- 

 ing a resemblance to a duck's bill. The cleft of the 

 mouth is large, extending below the anterior margins 

 of the eyes''. The mouth shows a, struc-ture peculiar to 

 the Pike and intimately connected with its well-known 

 voracity, in whicR respect it is surpassed by few fishes. 

 The bones entering into the apparatus of the jaws are 

 endowed with great mobility, the mouth being capable 

 of considerable distension; and both jaws, the palate, 

 and the pliarynx, including the branchial arches, are 

 well armed with sharp, retrorse teeth. The mobility 

 and expansivene.'^s of the jaws are sujiplemented by 

 the free articulation of the o])ercular apparatus. 



As we have mentioned above, the intermaxillaries 

 {pin.r, fig. 253) are widely separated bj' the broad, flat, 

 |iroininent, and cartilaginous ethmoid bone (efcr), which 

 grows broader in front, and, supported bj- the vomer 

 {iwm), forms the anterior margin of (he upper jaw. 

 The ethmoidal cartilage is furnished not onl}' with this 

 inferior covering-lione, the vomer, but also with two 

 pairs of upper covering-bones, the supraethmoids, called 

 by others the nasal bones (spef, 1 and 2), the anterior 

 pair situated above and beside the long nasal processes 

 (,/Vw) of the frontal bones, \vhich j^rocesses extend al- 

 most to the tip of the snout. By means of cartilaginous 

 joints the small intermaxillaries articulate with the an- 

 terior outer angle of the ethmoidal cartilage and the 

 last-mentioned nasal bones. An ascending process, flat 

 and incurved, of the intermaxillaries overlies the an- 

 terior extremities both of the maxillaries and of the 

 concave articular head on the anterior outer end of the 



" The Fisheries Commission of 1881 — 83 received from several provinces information of Pike 15 — 19 dm. long and 17 — 26 kilo. 

 in weight. 



* The length of the npper jaw from the middle of the tip of the snout to the hind extremities of the maxillary bones occupies in 

 the fry (about ' , dm. long) about 38 %, in Pike 4 — 5 dm. long about 46 — 49 %, of the length of the head; and the length of the maxil- 

 laries measures in the latter about 38 — 40 %, and their greatest breadth (across the supplementary bone) about 7 — 8 °i, of the same. The 

 length of the lower jaw is about 65 — 69 % (in the young about 60 ?b) of that of tlie head. 



