FAMILY PERCIDjE — LUCIOPERCA. W 



lake, I was informed of one which was thirty inches long. Tt had swallowed a duck, which 

 had thrust its head through the gill openings of the fish, and having thus destroyed it, both 

 were found dead on the shore. 



The Pike-perch is found from the Ohio, through all the great lakes, and through the rivers 

 of the fur countries up to the fifty-eighth parallel of latitude. Fishermen enumerate in our 

 State three species or kinds : The Blue Pike, which I have seen, and consider as an aged 

 individual of the present species ; the Yellow Pike, just described ; and the Grey Pike, 

 which I consider as specifically distinct. Under the name of Perca vitrea, Mitchill has 

 described a species which may apply to this or the following, but the description is too vague 

 to enable me to adopt his previous name. 



THE GRAY PIKE-PERCH. 



LCCIOPERCA GRISEl. 

 (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Characteristics. General hue greyish. Membrane of the spinous dorsal fin without the black 

 spot. Invariably smaller than the preceding. Length ten to twelve inches. 



Description. Form of the head, body and opercles resembling entirely the preceding. The 

 first dorsal with fourteen, and the second with eighteen rays. Anal with thirteen rays. 



Color. Color yellowish, strongly tinged with grey. Opercular bones, and summit of the 

 head greyish. The first dorsal fin light-colored, tinged with yellowish, and with a rounded or 

 irregular blue-black spot on the membrane between each ray. The second dorsal of the 

 same color, with a series of similar spots forming two or more irregular bars. Pectoral fins 

 yellowish, with a few dark spots. Ventrals yellowish, immaculate. Anal whitish, transpa- 

 rent. Caudal fin with alternate transverse bars of bluish brown and faint yellowish. 



Length, 10-0- 12-0. 



Fins, D. 14.1.17; P. 15; V. 1,5; A. 13; C. 17 |. 



This species is found with the preceding, but is never larger than as given above. It is 

 equally prized as an article of food. 



{EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



L. canadensis. (Griffith's Cuv. Vol. 10, pi. 1, p. 275. PI. 68, fig. 221.) Dark olive green above, 

 beneath whitish ; a few pale yellow spots on the sides below the lateral line. Lower margin of 

 the opercle with five acute spines. Length 1 4 inches. River St. Lawrence. 



