THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 17 



but is wanting in the Kamchatkan Peninsula. Brehm found it in 

 the lower coui'se of the River Obi; and in the great lakes of the 

 Barbara steppes (the upper basin of the Obi and Irtish) it is extremely 

 common, according to Pallas, and attains a considerable size. It 

 occurs also in the Caspian Sea but not in Transcaucasia or in the Black 

 Sea, though it is found in the Sea of Azov and the basin of the Danube. 

 It is met with in rivers and lakes throughout Russia and north-central 

 Europe, including Great Britain, Italy, and Sicily, but is said to be 

 wanting in Greece and on the Pyrenean Peninsula. It inhabits aU the 

 waters of Scandinavia, with some exceptions in Norway. 



In North America its range extends across the continent from the 

 Labrador Peninsula to Alaska, northward to beyond the Arctic Circle, 

 and southward to the St. Lawi-ence 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, 



T^^ 



FIG. 3.— COMMON P \KE (Esox lucius). 



but it does not occur in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or (except by 

 introduction) in that part of New England east of the Green Moun- 

 tains. 



It is the common pike of northern New York and the States bor- 

 dering on the Great Lakes. 



.Chambers (1896) stated that it occurs in Lake St. John and its 

 tributary streams as well as in the large lakes adjacent to and beyond 

 the height of land. 



According to Low (1895), this fish is found abundantly throughout 

 the interior of Labrador in the lakes and quick-flowing streams and is 

 common in the rivers of the southern, eastern, and western water- 

 sheds, but not abmidant in the Koksoak River. 



Preble (1908) reported that it is abundant in the Mackenzie VaUey 

 in practically aU the waters of the region and has given its name to 

 scores of lakes and streams, but he was unable to ascertain its presence 

 in the Ark-i-linik, Great Fish, or Coppermine Rivers. However, it is 

 an inhabitant of the Anderson. 



Bean said that Townsend and others found it above the Arctic Circle 

 in Alaska, and Dall and Nelson took it in abundance on the Yukon. 



