ANGUILLID.E. XL. 89 



215. E. reticulatus Le Sueur. EASTERN PICKEREL. Head 



long, 3^ ; snout 2^ in head ', eye 3| in snout. Greenish, with 

 numerous narrow dark lines and streaks, mostly horizontal and 

 more or less reticulated ; fins plain ; depth 5. L. 30. Me. to Ala., 

 abundant in coastwise streams, not W. of Alleghanies. (Lat., 

 having a net-work of marks.) 



aa. Cheeks entirely scaly; lower half of opercles bare; B. 14; D. 16 or 17; 

 A. 13 or 14; scales about 123. 



216. B. lucius L. PIKE; NORTHERN PICKEREL. Headlong, 

 3^ ; snout 2f in head ; eye 3 in snout ; eye placed as in preceding. 

 Grayish, with many round whitish spots; the young with pale 

 bars ; D., A. and C. spotted with black ; a white horizontal streak 

 bounding naked part of opercle. Depth 5. L. 30 to 50. N. Eur., 

 Asia, and N. Am. from L Champlain to N. Ind. and N. W. to 

 Alaska ; abundant, N. (Eu.) (Lat., pike.) 



aaa. Cheeks as well as opercles scaleless on the lower part; B. 17 to 19; D. 

 17, A. 15; scales about 150. 



217. E. masquinongy (Mitchill). MUSKALLUNGE. MASKINONGY. 

 Head large, 3| ; snout 2^- in head ; eye 4 to 5 in snout ; eye placed 

 as in E. reticulatus. Dark gray, sometimes (var. immaculatus Gar- 

 rard) immaculate, usually with small round blackish spots on a paler 

 ground ; fins spotted with black. Depth 6. L. 8 feet. A magni- 

 ficent fish, one of the largest in fresh waters. Great Lake region 

 and N. W. ; occasional in the Ohio valley. " A long, slim, strong, 

 and swift fish, in every way fitted for the life it leads, that of a 

 dauntless marauder." (Hallock.) (The Indian name.) 



ORDER XV. APODES. (THE EELS.) 



Scapular arch free from the cranium; no prsecoracoid arch; 

 body much elongate, with many vertebrae ; no ventral fins ; maxil- 

 laries and premaxillaries united with other bones or else wanting ; 

 pharyngeal and opercular bones more or less deficient; no fin 

 spines ; gill openings narrow ; no pseudobranchiae ; scales minute 

 or wanting. A large group, as yet of uncertain boundaries, com- 

 posed of degenerate Physostomi, its origin and relationship as yet, 

 however, uncertain. Most of the Eels are tropical and marine, and 

 many belong to the deep seas. Numerous genera and species not 

 here included occur in the deep waters off our coast, (a, privative ; 

 irons, foot.j 



FAMILY XL. ANGUILLID^l. (THE TRUE EELS.) 



Body compressed, covered with small, imbedded scales, linear in 

 form, placed obliquely, some of them at right angles to others ; lat- 

 eral line present; head long; mouth large, the lower jaw project- 



