THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 37 



down to the lateral line were of the richest and most lustrous copper 

 color, paling on the sides into bright brazen yellow, with the belly of a 

 silvery whiteness. The cheeks, gill covers, and fins all partook of 

 the same coppery tone, and the whole fish was far more lucent and 

 metallic than any of the family previously seen by him. There was 

 not the slightest indication of any transverse bars or any mottUngs 

 nor was there any of that sea-green color which is so peculiar to the 

 pike family. 



Habits. — Its breeding or feeding habits have not been specifically 

 described, but they are probably very similar to those of the eastern 

 pickerel. Smith (1907), writing of the North Carolina fish, stated 

 that its food is chiefly minnows, with which the stomach is often 

 gorged. 



FOOD AND GAME QUALITIES. 



Bean (1902) wrote that the little banded pickerel is a fish seldom 

 exceeding 10 inches in length, with flaky, white flesh, very few bones, 

 and with delicious flavor, and that it is well worthy of the attention 

 of fish culturists. 



Smith (1907) said that in North Carolina it was of less importance 

 as a food and game fish than Esox reticulatus. 



Storer (1853) wrote that it was not infrequently noticed in Boston 

 market, and that it was so similar to the reticulatus that it had pre- 

 viously been considered to be the young of that species. 



LITTLE PICKEREL {Esox vermiculatus). 

 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



According to Bean (1902), its range is the valleys of the Ohio and 

 Mississippi and streams flowing into the Great Lakes. He stated 

 that Cope mentioned that it is also found in the Susquehanna, of 

 which river it is probably not a native. 



Forbes (1908) stated that its general range includes the tributaries 

 of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, extending thence southward to the 

 Tennessee, Escambia,'^ and White Rivers and, according to Ever- 

 mann and Cox, to the Neuse River on the Atlantic slope .'^ 



It is stated (Evermann and Kendall, 1901 and 1902) to be rather 

 common in aU suitable waters of Lake Ontario and is recorded from 

 Black Creek at Scriba Corner; Lake View, West Oswego; Wart 

 Creek near Buena Vista; Great Sodus Bay; outlet of Long Pond 

 near Charlotte; and Marsh Creek near Point Breeze, N. Y. 



Cox does not record it from Minnesota, but Tomlin (1892a) wrote: 

 " While fishing in a Minnesota lake one summer evening, I found a 



a It is a noticeable coincidence that the Escambia River is given as a locality for both Esox americanus 

 and Esox vermiculatus, and it is remarkable that it should be recorded from the Neuse River east of the 

 AUeghenies distinctly in the range of £4-01 americanus. These records support the idea advanced by a stu- 

 dent of these fishes, to which reference was previously made, to the effect that the two are specifically 

 identical. 



