NG ocaND QUERIES. 
[Under this Department Heading queries relative to Angling, Ichthyology and Fish Culture 
will be answered. ] 
The Pike-Pickerel Muddie Again. 
[We print the annexed letter with editorial 
comments to show the utter impossibility of 
ever clarifying the muddle caused by anglers 
clinging so persistently to local nomenclature 
in the identification and classification of fishes. 
Some weeks ago, upon request, we sent this 
correspondent a copy of our magazine con- 
taining a full description of the markings of 
all the fishes of the pike family, and their dif- 
ferentiation, illustrated by drawings, one from 
the other. Included in this paper was an illus- 
tration of the pike-pirch, and notes on its col- 
oration, etc. With this kindergarten study be- 
fore him, we thought everything was satisfac- 
pickerel. In other words your pike-perch is 
nothing like your pike, and whence the name ? 
A friend of mine landed a fish on our last 
trip, about fourteen inches long. I looked it 
over and asked him to name it. He called ita 
pickerel. I told him no such miserable looking 
fish ever disgraced the waters of Lake Superior, 
and doubted his right tocall it a pickerel. Im- 
mediately back of the head was its thickest 
part, and it tapered straight to the tail, both on 
the back and tail, and at the same angle. All 
the fins were round. Had no first dorsal, and 
the whole body was very light in color. This 
was the first fish of the kind I have ever seen, 
and might have been about fourth cousin to 
your pike. 
I find nothing in your article to fit my pike. 
It is not like your picture of pike-perch, but 
very much stouter. 
I have caught plenty of 

tory, and the matter ended; but it seems that 
he still clings to his opinion, and we are appar- 
ently powerless to bring him from darkness into 
light, but we shall not halt in the effort of do- 
ing it:] 
Have just returned from a Lake St. Claire 
fishing trip, and received your letter and copy 
of ANGLER. My strongest desire, after read- 
ing your article on the pike-pickerel question, 
was to destroy it and say nothing. The article 
helped my friend’s side of the argument, and 
in their opinion routed mine. Had your pike 
been my pickerel the subject would have 
ended, but I am now loaded for whales, and do 
not known where it will all end. 
What you call a pike-perch I do not remem- 
ber ever having seen. The pike and perch are 
two different families. Why not give this fish 
a distinct name, and place it ina proper family, 
and so classify it? It has some points resemb- 
ling a perch, and it has some like a Lake 
Superior pike, but it resembles in no way a 
Lake Superior pickerel, and what you call a 
pike is an exact picture of a Lake Superior 
them in the lakes and large rivers of the Upper 
Peninsula of Michigan. They will weigh up to 
twenty-five pounds. I may be all wrong, but 
your pike-perch comes the nearest to our 
walled-eyed pike. 1 
DETROIT, July 26. 
Our pike-perch, as shown in the illustration 
sent you, is your wall-eyed pike, also known as 
the “glass-eye.” In the upper lakes, particu- 
larly along Lake Huron, it is known as the 
“pickerel.” In northern Wisconsin the prefix 
of wall-eye is dropped and it is simply called 
“pike.” In Pennsylvania it is known as the 
“Susquehanna salmon,” and in Ohio as the 
“Ohio salmon,” and in the Southern States the 
name “ Jack” is applied to this fish as wellas to 
the pike proper. In Canada it is known asthe 
“dory.” We have given this local nomen- 
clature at length, in the effort to convince you 
that no reliance, for the purpose of identifica- 
tion or classification, can be placed upon the 
local names of any fish in any water in America. 
