94 U. § BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
base of tail; head more or less scaly; gill membranes not attached 
to the pr olongation of the body for ward between the gill openings; 
no barbels; maxillaries distinct; upper jaw not protractile, that is, 
its forward end is firmly joined to the snout; both jaws provided 
with sharp teeth, varying in size and arranged in broad bands; 
snout somewhat prolonged and depressed. 
The pike family includes one genus only—Esox. The pikes are 
inhabitants of the fresh waters of the temperate parts of Europe, 
Asia, and America. The pike proper (Z’sox luctus) inhabits all 
three continents and is the only representative of the family in other 
than the North American continent. In North America there are 
now recognized five species, including the pike. These are the pike 
(EL sox lucius), the muskellunge (EB. masquinongy), the eastern 
pickerel (#. reticulatus), the “banded pickerel. (#7. americanus), 
and the little pickerel (4. vermiculatus). 
The species vary in appearance among themselves, according to 
locality, age, size, and sex, but it is only in the muskellunge that 
subspecies “have been designated, and these have been pronounced 
distinct species by some ichthyological authorities.® 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 
Owing to confusion of local names, mistaken identifications, and 
the scant knowledge of the fishes of some regions, it has not been 
easy to decide positively regarding the exact geographical distribu- 
tion of the muskellunge and the pike in America. The most gen- 
erally known form of the spotted muskellunge is native to all the 
Great Lakes, the upper St. Lawrence River, ‘Lake Champlain, cer- 
tain streams and lakes tributary to the Great Lakes, and a few 
lakes in the upper Mississippi Valley; also in Canada north of the 
Great Lakes. It does not seem at all abundant anywhere, as the 
number taken each year in any one of the lakes is small. It is, 
perhaps, most common in Lakes Michigan and Erie and among the 
Ten Thousand Istands.* 
' The barred muskeliunge is best known from Chautauqua Lake, 
though specimens have been reported from a few places in the Ohio 
drainage—for instance, in Lakes Conneaut and La Boeuf, Pa., the 
Mahoning River, and the Ohio at Evansville. The spotless form 
is found in a number of small lakes in northern Wisconsin and 
Minnesota. 
RANGE 
In North America the range of the common pike (Z’sow luctus) 
extends across the continent fre om the Labrador Peninsula to Alaska, 
northward to beyond the Arctic Circle, and southward to the St. 
Lawrence and Great Lakes Basin. It is found also in some waters 
in the United States south of the Great Lakes, as northern New 
York and the Mississippi and its tributaries, but it does not occur 
in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or (except by introduction) in 
that part of New England east of the Green Mountains. 

6 American Food and Game Fishes. By David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Ever- 
mann. [The pikes, pp. 233-240.] New York, 1902. 
7 The Fishes of North and Middle America. By David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren 
Evermann. Bulletin, United States Museum, No, 47, pt. 1. [The pikes, pp. 624—630.] 
Washington, 1896. , 
