598 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 



is another fish of this family in Lake Champlain, which they call the Maskalongh, 

 If so, it is probably the fish which Richardson (Fauna Boreali, p. 127^ calls E.estor, 

 maskinongS. I lately received one which was scut me as a maskalonge, but which 

 proved to be only a plump specimen of the common pike," 



38. Lucius masquinoiigy (Mitchill). Maskallonge; Muskallongej Mascalonge, 



The maskallonge is said to be taken occasionally in Lake Champlain and the 

 months of the larger tributary streams. It is said not to occur in Lake Mem- 

 phremagog. Thompson records it from the Lamoille River, bnt we have seen no 

 examples from those waters. It is seldom reported from am tributary to Lake 

 Champlain except the Missisquoi River, in which it furnishes good sport to the few 

 initiated fishermen. 



Thompson has the following interesting remarks regarding the " Masquallonge :" 



••This fish has. till lately, been confounded with the Esoxestor, or common pike, 

 or lake pickerel. "When my description of the E. tstor was published, in 1842,1 

 doubted the existence of this species in our lake, bnt since that time my mind has 

 changed on the subject. In May, 1817. 1 received from my friend, the Hon. A. G. 

 Whittemore, of Milton, a fish caught near the month of the River Lamoille, which 

 the fishermen called masquallonge. It was 26 inches long and weighed about o" 

 pounds. Upon examining it I was fully satisfied that it was of a species distinct 

 from /.'. estor, and. as I could find no description of it under any other name. 1 made 

 out a description and gave it the name of Esox nobilior. 



•'In April. 1848. 1 received another specimen from the same source, which weighed 

 19 pounds and was 11} inches long. In May. I8l!>. two specimens were brought 

 along, both caught near the mouth of the Lamoille, one of which weighed 40 pounds 

 and the other 27 pounds. I purchased the latter, and from it the preceding descrip- 

 tion is chiefly drawn. Relieving this species to attain a larger size and to be a more 

 excellent fish for the table than any other species of the pike family- found in the 

 United States. I have given it the specific name of nobilior. It is a fish which is 

 eagerly sought and commands the highest price in market, but it is rare in Lake 

 Champlain. compared with /.". estor. or common pike. Very good figures of both of 

 these species arc given in Frank Forester's Fish and Fishing, but both under wrong 

 names; the /.". nobilior being figured under the name of E.estor, and the./.', esfor under 

 that of /.'. lucioides. 



"The vulgar name masqvallonge appears to have been given by the early French 

 settlers of Canada to the pikes and pickerels generally, it being a term or phrase 

 descriptive of the whole family — Masque, signifying face or visage, and allonge, 

 lengthened, they all having lengthened or elongated heads. In modern times this 

 name, musguallonge, has been confined, by the fishermen, to the species here 

 described, while the other species bear the vulgar name of pike or pickerel. The 

 methods of spelling this Canadian-French name have been almost as numerous as the 

 authors who have used it. as may lie seen by the following: Maskallonge, LeSueur; 

 masquinongy, Dr. Mitchill: maskinonge, Fr. Richardson: muskallonge, Pr. Kirtland; 

 mnskellunge, Dr. DoKay. 



••The oldest forms of this name, it will be seen, approach nearest, both in spelling 

 and pronunciation, to the phrase Masque allonge, which we have supposed to be its 

 origin, and, therefore, afford presumptive proof of the correctness of our supposition. 



••This fish may usually be distinguished from the common pike by its dark circular 

 markings and its more robust proportions. Its head is proportionally shorter, the 

 face tlatter and less grooved, and the width across the eyes and upper jaw greater 

 than in the estor. Rut. perhaps, the mark by which it may be most readily distin- 

 guished is on the cheek, the lower half of the eheek in the E. nobilior. in front of 

 the preoperculum, being naked, or without scales, while in the L\ estor the whole 

 cheek is covered with scales. The difference in the general aspect of the twospeeies 

 may be seen by comparing the tigure of the E. estor below with the E. nobilior at the 

 head of this article. 



