122 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



The eastern or reticulated pickerel (Esox reticulatus) has both the 

 cheeks and the gill-covers entirely covered with scales ; it has 

 from 14 to 16 branchiostegal rays; its coloration is shades 

 of green, with sides of golden lustre, and marked with dark retic- 

 ulations, mostly horizontal. It is rarely or never found west of 

 the Alleghanies. 



The little western pickerel (Esox vermiculatus) has both cheeks and 

 gill-covers entirely scaly, as have all the pickerels ; it has from 1 1 

 to 13, usually 12, branchiostegal rays; its coloration is greenish 

 or grayish, with curved streaks on the sides forming bars or 

 reticulations ; the color is quite variable, sometimes plain olive. 

 It is found only west of the Alleghanies. 



The banded or American pickerel (Esox americanus} has, like the 

 other true pickerels, both the cheeks and the gill-covers entirely 

 covered with scales ; it has 12 or 13 branchiostegal rays ; colora- 

 tion dark green, sides with many distinct black curved trans- 

 verse bars ; a black bar below the eye, and one from the snout 

 through the eye to the gill-cover. It is found only east of the 

 Alleghanies. 



THE MASCALONGE 

 (Esox nobilior) 



The specific name nobilior, long current for 

 the mascalonge, and the one based on its earli- 

 est accurate description, was conferred by Rev. 

 Zadoc Thompson in 1849 in " Notes on Certain 

 Vermont Fishes," in the Proceedings of the Bos- 

 ton Society of Natural History, Vol. Ill, pub- 

 lished July 1 8, 1849, and later he described it 

 fully in the ''History of Vermont," 1853, Part I. 

 It is an excellent and appropriate name, and one 

 that has become familiar to anglers. I have re- 



