THE PIKE FAMILY. ^35 



MASCALONGE. 



Esox estor : Cuvier. 



Body elliptical, elongated ; section oval, not quadrangular 

 as in the Pickerel. Color green, with a tint of steel blue on 

 the back, shading lighter and into a bluish pearl color on the 

 sides ; the body is covered with round or oval spots of much 

 darker color. Belly white; the whole body has a pearly 

 lustre. Head not quite one-fourth of its length, and very 

 slender, causing it to appear much longer in proportion to 

 length of body than it really is ; the skull depressed between 

 the eyes, and the profile concave between the eyes and snout ; 

 upper part of preopercle and opercle covered with small deep 

 green brilliant scales, those on opercle are the larger. Eyes 

 large, near the top of the head, and midway between snout 

 and angle of opercle. Irides light yellow. Cheeks and gill- 

 covers resembling gray pearl, with four or five clouded spots 

 on preopercle, and one or two on opercle. Upper jaw broad, 

 verging to a point ; under jaw terminated with an upward 

 curve. Branchial rays seventeen, the series extending high 

 up against the opercle. The arrangement of teeth similar, 

 but not quite the same as in the Pickerel. Fins all covered 

 with dark spots half the size of those on the body. I counted 

 in my specimen seventeen rays in the pectoral fins, which are 

 pinnate in shape, and situated beneath the extremity of the 

 gill-cover. Yentrals slightly posterior to its mid-length, with 

 twelve rays. Anal seventeen. Dorsal two-thirds len<nh 



