The Maskaionge. 



We are glad our acknowledgment of the re- 

 ception of four fine specimens of the Longe, or 

 Vermont Salmon, from Lake Magog, has drawn 

 the following interesting communication from 

 our friend Mr. Thompson, whose merits as a 

 Naturalist are no less extraordinary than his 

 attainments, in every branch of the great science 

 of Natural History. We always feel honored 

 when Mr. Thompson makes our columns the 

 medium for the publication of the results of his 

 observations- or experiments, on any subject, and 

 ■ this feeling is naturally stronger when we find 

 that our own crude reflections on any topic be- 

 come suggestive of methodical and well-digest- 

 ed thought to him. We know he will scarcely 

 pardon us for these terms of slight praise,— 

 which every body except himself knows to be 

 far less decided than they might be without any 

 ; just implication of flattery. 



We have only a word to add, and that is, if 

 the Maskaionge is not hereafter known and spo- 

 ken of, if, the scientific world, as the Esox no- 

 uilior, we hooK-and-line naturalists, whose •' in- 

 vestigations" rarely extend beyond the gills and 

 throat, in the lice specimen, and the muscular 

 integuments in the cooked ditto, will know and 

 speak of it as " nothing else .'" We lay it down 

 as a good general rule, that a fish that Mr. 

 Thompson finds himself obliged to name, has 

 not been named before,— and Professor Agassiz 

 himself "may put that in his pipe and smoke 

 it V'—lEd. F. P. 



For the Daily Free Press. 

 Mr. Editor:— Iq. one of your Daily's of last week 

 1 observed a notice, which was highly commendato- 

 ry, of a Fish, which is very common in Lake Mem- 

 phremagog and many of the ponds in the Northeast- 

 ern part of the State, and is there called the Longe. 

 This is the same fish which was formerly caught in 

 Lake Champlain, and was in early times called the 

 Salmon Trout. It is called at the West the Greet 

 Lake Trout, and specimens have been taken weigh- 

 ing nearly 100 lbs. 



Now while I would abate nothing of your com- 

 mendation of the Longe, I desire to say a word re- 

 specting the Maskaionge. I had been often told by 

 the fishermen previous to the publication of my His- 

 tory of Vermont in 1842, that we had in our waters 

 a fish resembling, but, at the same time, specifically 

 distinct from, the Lake Pickerel, which they called 

 the Maskaionge, and I received two or three speci- 

 mens which were sent me as Maskaionge, but as they 

 all provod to be overgrown Pickerel, I concluded the 

 fishermen were mistaken 







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184 Storefs Synopsis of the Fishes of North .America. 



coecal appendages to the pylorus, and in possessing a cordiform natatory blad- 

 der. From the Esoces, it is distinguished by the presence of coecal ap- 

 pendages. From the Siluridte, it differs in the existence of scales and coeca, 

 and by the absence of cirrhi. From the Salmonidae, by the existence of 

 but two ccecal appendages, and by the absence of the adipose dorsal fin. 



GENUS I. AMBLYOPSIS, Dekay. 

 Bady with scales. Vent anterior to the base of the pectorals. Eyes not 

 apparent, even upon careful dissection. Ventrals minute. A single dorsal. 

 Teeth on the jaws and palatines. No scales upon head, but slightly elevated, 

 transverse ridges are observed upon it. No barbels. 



1. Amblyopsis spelseus, Dekay. 



Whitish. Head broad and flattened. Mouth large. Most of the fins with filamentous 



tips. 



D. 7. P. 12. V. 5. A. 8. C. 16|. Length, 3A inches. 



Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, Dekay. 



Amblyopsis spelteus, Dekay's Report, p. 187. 



" Wyman, SiUimau's Journal, xlv. p. 94. 



FAMILY XVIII. ESOCID^. 



Body elongated. One dorsal, and generally opposite to the anal. Edge of 

 the upper jaw either formed solely by the intermaxillaries, or if the labials 

 enter at all into its composition, they are destitute of teeth. Intestinal canal 

 short, without coeca. Branchial rays vary from three to eighteen. Month 

 large, and without sharp teeth. 



GENUS I. ESOX, Cuv. 

 Head depressed, large, oblong, blunt ; intermaxillaries small, with small 

 pointed teeth at the middle of the upper jaw, of which they form two bands. 

 The mamillaries forming the sides have no teeth. The vomer, palatines, 

 tongue, pharyngeals, and branchial arches, bristled with card-like teeth. Sides 

 of the lower jaw with a row of long, pointed teeth. 



1. Esox estor, Lesueur. 



Back deep greenish-brown ; sides with numerous rounded and oblong pale-yellowish spots: 



