HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 133 



FAMILY XIV. ESOCID.E. 



Body elongated. One dorsal, generally opposite to the anal. Edge of the upper 

 jaw either formed solely by the intermaxillaries, or, if the labials enter at all into its 

 composition, they are destitute of teeth. Intestinal canal short, without cceca. Bran- 

 chial rays vary from three to eighteen. Mouth large, and without sharp teeth. 



GENUS I. ESOX, Cut. 



Head depressed, large, oblong, blunt ; intermaxillaries small, with small, pointed 

 teeth at the middle of the upper jaw, of which they form two bands. The maxillaries 

 forming the sides have no teeth. The vomer, palatines, tongue, pharyngeals, and 

 branchial arches bristled with card-like teeth. Sides of the lower jaw with a row of 

 long, pointed teeth. 



Esox reticulatus, Lesueur. 



, The Pickerel. 



(Plate XXIV. Fig. 1.) 



Esox lucius, Pickerel, Mitcii., Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., i. p. 440. 

 Esox reticulatus, Lesueur, Joum. Acad. Nat. Sciences, i. p. 414. 



" " Common Pickerel, Stoker, Report, p. 97. 



" " Pike, Kirtland, Report, p. 194. 



" " Common Pickerel, Dekay, Report, p. 223, pi. 34, fig. 107. 



Esox fasciatus, Varied Pickerel, Dekay, Report, p. 224, pi. 34, fig. 110. 

 Esox reticulatus, Pickerel, Thompson's History of Vermont, p. 138. 



" " Ayres, Bost. Joum. Nat. Hist., iv. p. 269. 



" " Pickerel, Pike, Kirtland, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv. p. 233, pi. 10, fig. 2. 



Esox tredecem lineatus, Federation Pike, Mitch., Mirror, 1825, p. 361. 

 Esox tredecem radiatus, Federation Pike, Dekay, Report, p. 225. 

 Esox reticulatus, Pickerel, Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., New Series, n. p. 437. 



" " " " Synopsis, p. 185. 



Le Brochet reticuli {Esox reticulatus, Lesueur), Cuv. et Val., xviii. p. 327. 



Color. The color of this species varies considerably in different localities. Most 

 commonly, however, the body is green above ; the sides are of a beautiful golden- 

 yellow, marked over their whole extent with irregularly distributed dark, longitudinal 

 lines, which by their union produce imperfect reticulations. The body beneath is 

 white, the throat is flesh-colored. The pupils are black ; the irides greenish, with a 

 golden ring upon their anterior edge. Beneath the eyes, a deep black band passes per- 



