224 ESOCID.E. 



GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL. 



Esox Lucwides — Agassiz. 



This great Pike, like the last, is peculiar to the basin of the 

 St. Lawrence, and was first clearly described and specified 

 during the scientific tour to Lake Superior, which I have 

 already mentioned, by Professor Agassiz, who pointed out its 

 distinctions, both from the European Pike and the Mascalonge, 

 to the former of which {Esox Lucius) it is by far the most closely 

 allied, although it appears to have been confounded with both, 

 — Lesueur, who first gave a distinct specific name to the Mas- 

 calonge, having described it as the fish now under consideration, 

 Esox Lucioides, and not at all as Esox Estor. 



The Northern Pickerel is taken up to the weight of sixteen or 

 seventeen pounds, but rarely, I believe, exceeds that weight. 

 It is an exceedingly handsome fish, longer and slighter, in 

 proportion to its depth, than the Mascalonge. 



Its body is four-sided, the back broader and flatter than the 

 belly ; the vertical diameter is equal to about one-seventh of the 

 body, caudal included ; the transverse diameter is two-thirds of 

 the vertical ; the body carries its thickness to the dorsal fins, 

 and then tapers into the thin tail ; the sides are compressed and 

 flattened ; the head is about one-fifth the length of the body ; 

 the snout not nearly so long, and much more obtuse, than in 

 the Mascalonge ; the under jaw does not exceed the upper in 

 length nearly so much as in that fish, and is armed around all 

 the fore part with a single row of small, slightly -hooked teeth ; 



