SOUTHERN COAST FISHES. 405 



retictilattis) of the Eastern States. The color and markings upon 

 the sides are the same, and their habits of lying- in shallow water 

 near the shore and in bunches of weeds are also similar. It is pos- 

 sible that a specialist in ichthyology might discover differences, but 

 they are not apparent to the eyes of an ordinary student of nature. 

 The water of the creeks and inlets about Chesapeake Bay are but 

 slightly salt, and but little affected by tides, and are lined about the 

 shores with patches of weeds and rushes, forming just the sort of 

 places that the pickerel loves to inhabit. I see no reason for sup- 

 posing that the pickerel should not live in salt water if the other 

 conditions were suited to its habits, as they so evidently are here. 

 The only way that I ever knew of these salt water pike being taken 

 was by the seine and by fishing through the ice in winter, precisely 

 as is done for pickerel at the North." 



Mr. S. R. Scoggins, a veteran marketman of Baltimore, claims 

 these pike are essentially a salt water fish, and will not go into 

 fresh water. He says, " I have been among them for thirty years, 

 and never knew one to be caught in fresh water unless it had 

 strayed away from the school and was in a sickly condition. 

 Possibly they go into fresh water to spawn. 



A careful examination of five specimens of these fish, that av- 

 eraged some twenty-two inches in length, and a comparison of the 

 same with the fresh- water pike, discovered but very slight variations 

 as to fin-rays, color, markings, and general structure, as between 

 each other and the inland fish. We give the formula for two 

 specimens which showed the greatest variation : 



Length of body twenty-two and one-half inches ; head six 

 inches. Fin system : D. 18 ; P. 14 ; V. ic ; A. 15 ; C. 20. 



Length of body twenty-one inches; head five and one-half 

 inches. Fin system : D. 18 ; P. 12 ; V. 9; A. 15 ; C. 20. 



Color : Back, deep green ; sides, olive yellow ; belly, white ; 

 under fins and throat, deep red; upper fins, green; irides blue 

 with yellow rim ; numerous dark streaks on body producing a 

 reticulated appearance. 



The fin-ray formula for the inland pike, as given by De Kay 

 and other authorities, is as follows : 



D. 18; P. 16; V. 10; A. 14; C. 19. 



Color and description nearly as given above. « 



