FISH OF ONTARIO. 67 



D., 14; A., 9; V., 6; scales on lateral line 35, in transverse series 15. 



Colour, dull olive green, with about fourteen narrow pale bars (faint 

 in young), a black bar at the base of the caudal. 



Common and generally distributed in muddy streams and inlets. The 

 name is said to be derived from a habit this fish has of burrowing into the 

 mud when the water evaporates from the ditches and ponds it frequents. 

 It is seldom seen in clear water, preferring to hide at all times under 

 stones or among weeds. It reaches a length of about four inches. 



FAMILY LUCIID^E. (PIKES.) 



Body elongate, not elevated, more or less compressed posteriorly, 

 broad anteriorly. Head long, the snout prolonged and depressed. Mouth 

 very large, its cleft forming about half the length of the head ; lower jaw 

 the longer; upper jaw not protractile, most of its margin formed by the 

 maxillaries, which are quite long and provided with a supplemental bone ; 

 premaxillaries, vomer and palatines, with broad bands of strong cardiform 

 teeth which are more or less movable ; lower jaw with strong teeth of dif- 

 ferent sizes ; tongue with a band of small teeth. Head naked above ; cheeks 

 and opercles more or less scaly ; gill openings very wide ; gill membranes 

 separate, free from the isthmus ; gill rakers tubercle-like, toothed ; branchi- 

 ostegals twelve to twenty. Scales small ; lateral line weak, obsolete in 

 young specimens, developed in the adult. Dorsal posterior, opposite and 

 similar to anal ; caudal fin emarginate ; pectoral fins small, inserted low ; 

 ventrals rather posterior ; vent normal ; no adipose fin ; no barbels ; stomach 

 not caecal, without pyloric appendages ; pseudobranchiae glandular, hid- 

 den ; air bladder simple. Basis cranii double. Fishes of moderate or 

 large size. 



GENUS LUCIUS. (PIKES.) 



The genus Lucius is subdivided into three groups, distinguished by 

 their size, scaling, and colouration. In the first group are three species 

 of small Pike (commonly called by the Americans Pickerel), in which the 

 cheeks and opercles are entirely scaly, the colour is greenish, usually with 

 dark reticulations and the largest species reaches a length of about two 

 feet. To this group the subgeneric name Kenoza is applied. Only one 

 of these species has come under my observation in this Province, and it is 

 probably very rare here. 



In the subgenus Lucius we have only the Common Pike (also called 

 Pickerel by our American neighbors), the typical species of the genus, 

 which has the cheeks fully scaled and the lower half of the opercles naked. 

 The sides are pale spotted, on a darker ground, and it grows to a much 

 larger size than any of the species of the Kenoza group. 



The subgenus Mascalongus contains only the Mascalonge, the largest 

 member of the family. In this species the lower half of the cheeks as well 

 as of the opercles is scaleless, and the scales are smaller than in those of 

 the other groups. 



