SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 143 



aa. Dorsal rays 14 or 15; anal rays 13 or 14; branchiostegals 14 to 16; scales in lateral series 

 about 125; medium sized fisli with numerous dark lines, mostly horizontal and con- 

 nected so as to form a loose network reticulatus. 



ii. Cheeks and opercles scaly above, naked below; dorsal rays 17; anal rays 15; branchiostegals 

 17 to 19; scales in lateral series about 150; very large fish with narrow indistinct bars 

 which break up into ill-defined dark spots ohiensis. 



(Esox, a name applied by Pliny to some fish, probably the sturgeon.) 



120. ESOX AMERICANUS Gmelin. 

 "Pike"; "Red-finned Pike"; "Jack"; Pickerel. 



Esox lucius americanus Gmelin, Systema Natur:©, 1390, 1788; Long Island, N. Y. 



Esox ravenelii. Cope, 18706, 457; Catawba River. 



Lucius americanus, Jordan, 18895, 129, 133; Little River at Goldsboro; tributaries of Haw River in Guilford 



County. Smith, 1893a, 19.5, 199; cypress swamp near Edenton; Roanoke River at Plymouth and Weldon. 



Evermann & Cox, 1896, 305; Neuse River near Raleigh. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 626. Smith, 1901, 



134; Lake Mattamuskeet. 



Diagnosis. — Body long, robust, the depth about .2 total length; head large, more than .25 

 total length; snout broad and blunt, about .37 length of head; eye rather large, contained 5.5 

 times in length of head; lower jaw considerably longer than upper; maxillary extends to under 

 pupil; dorsal and anal fins opposite, origin of former about equidistant from base of ventrals 

 and caudal; ventrals about midway between end of snout and base of caudal. Color : dark 

 green above, sides greenish yellow, with 18 to 20 dark, vertical curved bars; a dark bar below 

 eye, and a dark stripe on side of head through eye; fins imspotted; lower fins in North Caro- 

 lina specimens sometimes scarlet, upper fins dark, edged with carmine. 



This little pickerel is found in streams and swamps of the eastern seaboard 

 from Massachusetts to Alabama. It is known from numerous places in North 

 Carolina. It is of small size, rarely exceeding a foot in length, and is of less 

 importance as a food and game fish than Esox reticulatus. The food is chiefly 

 minnows, with which the stomach is often gorged. 



121. ESOX RETICULATUS LeSueur. 

 "Pike"; "Red-finned Pike"; "Black Pike"; "Duck-billed Pike"; "Jack"; Pickerel; 



Chain Pickerel. 



Esox reticulatus LeSueur, Journal Academy Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, i, 1818, 414; Connecticut River, 



Mass.; Philadelphia. 

 Esox affinis. Cope, 18706, 457; Neuse River. 



fLucius vermiculatus, Evermann & Cox, 1896, 305; Neuse River near Raleigh. 

 Lucius reticulatus, Jordan, 18896, 126, 128, 1.33; Tar, Neuse (and Little), and Haw rivers. Smith, 1893ffl, 



191, 195, 199; Pasquotank River, Edenton Bay, Roanoke River. Jordan & Evermann, 1896,627. Smith, 



1901, 134; Lake Mattamuskeet. 



Diagnosis. — Body long and slender, the depth .16 total length; caudal peduncle very 

 slender, only .33 depth of body; head long, .4 total length; snout long, pointed, contained 2.25 

 to 2.33 times in'length of head; eye small, .4 length of snout and .12 to .14 length of head. 

 Color: varying from green to nearly black, sides lighter and with golden luster; entire body 

 marked by narrow dark connecting fines which form a loose network; a dark bar below eye. 

 {reticulatus, with mesh-like markings.) 



This pike is an inhabitant of the eastern seaboard from Maine to Louisiana. 

 It is common in the lower courses of North Carolina rivers flowing into the 

 Atlantic Ocean. About Albemarle Sound, where all the local names in quotation 

 marks are in use, it is very common, and is often caught in the nets of the com 



