ESOCIDJE. 



157 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGII. 



ESOOID.fi. 







-'* t 



THE COMMON PICKEREL. 



Esox Reticulatus; Le Sueur. 



THROUGHOUT the United States, excepting only the extreme west- 

 ern and southern waters, this is perhaps the commonest of all game 

 fishes ; from New England to the western limits of Pennsylvania, not 

 a river, pond, or streamlet but abounds with this bold and rapacious 

 fish ; and it is probable that, like many other of the northern fish, he 

 is found in the waters of the hill' districts of Virginia, Carolina, and 

 even of the Western States, although in such locations he is lost sight 

 of among the tribes peculiar to those regions. 



With regard to the Southern States, especially, it is almost impos- 

 sible to arrive at anything like certainty concerning the species or 

 varieties of game fish to be found within their limits, from the univer- 

 sal misapplication of names, and the unhappy tendency of sportsmen, 

 to which I have already made allusion, to adopt any barbarous local 

 misnomer, rather than to make themselves acquainted with the true 

 specific names, and to learn the distinctions, so as to speak under- 

 standingly of the game which they take. 



It is indeed a hopeless task to hunt up the real peculiarities and 



