PISHES OF VERMONT. 601 



Family PERCID^. The Perches and Darters. 



45. Stizostedioa vitreum (Mitcbill). Wall-eyed Pike; Pike. 

 Mr. Thompson says: 



•'The usual length of this fish is from 14 to 20 inches and its weight from 1 to 4 

 pounds. It is taken very plentifully from the waters of Lake Champlain and its 

 tributaries. It is a firm, bony iish, but as the bones are. large and easily separated 

 from the flesh, they are much less troublesome than in the perch and some other 

 species. Its llesh is well flavored, though not so juicy and rich as that of our white- 

 fish and some few others. In the form of its body and the situation of its fins it 

 closely resembles the perches, but its head and teeth are more like the pikes, and 

 hence its name, Lucio-Perca, or Pile-Perch. This fish is called by Dr. Williams, in 

 his History of Vermont, the white perch, but is generally known in Vermont simply 

 by the name of pike, while the fish usually called pike in other places is here called 

 pickerel. This fish, on the contrary, is called pickerel in Canada. We have another 

 species of this genus, probably the L. canadensis, but I am unable to say so positively 

 at present." 



The pike is perhaps the most important food and game iish of Lake Champlain, 

 and in the spring of the year it constitutes the principal catch. According to Mr. 

 John W. Titcomb, they go up the east side of Missisquoi Bay when going to their 

 spawning-grounds, but return to the lake by going down the west side. The fisher- 

 men on the Hog Island side get them full of roe, while those on the other side get 

 only spent fish. The principal spawning-grounds about Lake Champlain seem to 

 be in Missisquoi Bay and in the lower parts of the larger rivers, particularly the La- 

 moille and the Missisquoi. The spawning time in Lake Champlain is quite early in 

 the spring, chiefly in April and May. Mr. A. L. Owen, of Burlington, thinks they 

 spawn even before the ice goes out, as he has caught spent fish in April. Mr. A. L. 

 Barrows, of Burlington, thinks they spawn about April 20 ; says he has caught many 

 full of spawn in April as they were passing Highgate on their way to Missisquoi 

 River; many spawn in Lamoille River. Mr. B. R. Seymour, of Burlington, 

 says they spawn early in the spring, even before the ice goes out, and that their 

 principal spawning-grounds are in Missisquoi Bay and Missisquoi, Lamoille, and 

 Winooski rivers He says that, after spawning, the pike run down the east shore 

 of the lake until stopped by the Hand Bar Bridge. This he regards as a calamity in 

 that it prevents the fish from going on into the southern portion of the lake. This 

 bridge connects Grand Isle with the Vermont shore and has no opening under it 

 through which fish may pass. They might work to the westward and then on south, 

 but Mr. Seymour thinks they arc more likely to return north. 



The wall-eyed pike is one of the principal game fishes of Lake Champlain. Mr. 

 H. M. Price, of Burlington, says they range in weight from 2 to 5 pounds, the aver- 

 age being, perhaps, 2A- pounds. Mr. Barrows says they average about 2 pounds. 

 According to Mr. Miles, the wall-eyed pike is not found in Lake Memphremagog. 



According to Mr. Titcomb, its spawning season in the rivers seems governed by the 

 time the ice leaves the river. They appear immediately after the breaking up of ice 

 in the spring in Missisquoi River, near the dam at Swanton. This is as far as they 

 can ascend the river, and they do not make their appearance until the ice goes out. 



Among the fishes sent by Mr. Collins from Missisquoi Bay are two wall-eyed pike. 

 One is an unripe male 25 inches long weighing 5V pounds, the other an unripe female 

 18j inches long and weighing 2h pounds. The condition of the reproductive organB 

 indicates that the spawning period would not begin until near the middle of May. 

 The stomachs contained nothing that could be identified. 



46. Stizostedion canadeuse (Smith). Sanger: "Ground Pike-Perch." 



Mr. Thompson says there is a second species of Stizostedion in Vermont, and thinks 

 it is probably this species. In the Appendix (p. 30) he says : 



"When the Natural, Civil, and Statistical History of Vermont was published I was 

 well satisfied that the species here described was distinct from the L. americaua, but 

 was not so clear whether it was a species already described or not. The difference 



