FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 97 



The specimen now before me varies in some slight particu- 

 lars. Its length is four and a half inches. Quite a number 

 of black spots upon the back. Two longitudinal bands on 

 the sides : the upper, unbroken throughout its entire extent ; 

 the inferior broken at the posterior half of the body ; the ante- 

 rior being higher than the posterior portion of the band. Four 

 transverse lines between the extremity of the longitudinal 

 bands, and the caudal rays ; that next to the tail, longer than 

 either of the others. 



The fin rays are : D. 15 ; P. 17 ; V. 6 ; A. 11 ; C. 20. 



Family II. 

 ESOCES. 



Esox. Lin. 



Generic characters. Head depressed., large^ ohlong^ blunt ; 

 jaios, palatine bones, and vomer, furnished loith teeth of vari- 

 ous sizes ; body elongated, rounded on the back ; sides com- 

 pressed, covered with scales ; dorsal fin placed very far back, 

 over the anal fin. 



E. reticulatus. Le Sueur. The common Pickerel. 

 Journal Academy Nat. Sciences, vol. i. j). 414. 



This fish, one of our most beautiful species, is known 

 throughout the state as the '•'■pickerel.'''' It is taken in most of 

 the ponds and rivers, and is every where valued. Brouglit to 

 Boston market in the spring and autumn, and frequently 

 through the greater part of the winter, it meets with a ready 

 sale. The largest specimens are received from Brewster, Cape 

 Cod : individuals have been sold in Quincy market from that 

 place, weighing seven pounds : and they are said to be taken 

 there considerably larger even than this. Its color varies ex- 

 ceedingly in different localities ; thus, while in some ponds it 

 is of a greenish brown color, in others, the entire surface is of 

 a brilliant golden; all however are more or less distinctly 

 13 



