156 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



thing that comes within his reach, ministers instantly to his voracious 

 appetite. 



But the baits by which he is most sportingly secured are the small 

 bright leucisci, or shiners, at the end of a double swivel trace, or a 

 live frog, which he can rarely refuse. 



NOTE TO REVISED EDITION. I have recently been informed by a correspondent, 

 that this fish, or the Mascalonge, is taken in the Connecticut, near Bellow's Falls. 

 That he himself has captured it, and is assured of its being wholly distinct from the 

 common Pickerel, with which he asserts himself to be, and of course is, conversant. 

 He also adds, that it has only been known in those waters within a limited number 

 of years ; and that it is the popular belief that it was introduced iato the Connecti- 

 cut by the breaking out of a new outlet from some mountain lake. If this be so, it 

 is a strange fact, as this fish was only distinguished as belonging to the great lakes, 

 last year, 1848, by Professor Agassiz, who considers it peculiar to them ; and the 

 Mascalonge has been hitherto distinctly limited to the St. Lawrence basiu. This 

 fish was considered by Richardson, as identical with the English Pike, Esox Lu- 

 cius, which it is not, though nearly allied to ; t, whence its name, Lucioides. 



