88 MALACOP. ABDOM. PIKE FAMILY. 



tongue, pharynx, and gill-arches, are also studded 

 with small teeth ; and upon the side of the lower 

 jaw there is a row of long pointed teeth. Their 

 muzzle is oblong, obtuse, broad, and depressed. 

 They have but one dorsal fin, which is opposite the 

 anal ; their air-bladder is very large. Europe pos- 

 sesses only one species of this genus ; Africa and 

 Asia are more productive, and several species are 

 catalogued by Dr. Richardson as belonging to North 

 America. Our Common Pike is one of these, but it 

 is confined to the eastern side of the rocky moun- 

 tains. 



^Sp. 117.) Klucius. The Common Pike ; Jack; 

 Pick well; Luce; Gidd. " The Shark of the fresh 

 waters!' (Lacepede.) Numerous are the appel- 

 lations which have been applied to the Pike, upon 

 which, however, it is unnecessary to dwell. The 

 term Jack is applied to the young fish under a 

 foot or two feet in length. Luce, or Lucie, from 

 the Latin Lucius, has long been used in English 

 literature, and is the Lucia of heraldry. The epithets 

 which have been applied to it, such as the Fresh- 

 water Shark, by Lacepede ; the Tyrant of Fresh- 

 waters, by Walton, express its well-marked and 

 most striking trait. 



On the specific characters of a fish so familiarly 

 known, it is unnecessary to enlarge. Its body ia 

 elongated, and nearly uniform in depth from the 

 head to the commencement of the dorsal fin. The 

 surface is covered with minute scales, and the 

 lateral line is indistinct : the dorsal fin is placed 



