462 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



and Northern Asia. Notwithstanding its broad distribution in the Old World, however, the genus 

 Esox may be claimed by Americans as pre-eminently American, since all the known species occur 

 in North America, while only one of them is found in Europe. The Pike the "Hecht" of Ger- 

 many; the "Brochet" of France; the "Luccio," or "Luzzo," of Italy, and the "Gadda" of 

 Sweden is easily distinguished from the allied species in the United States by its coloration, 

 which is uniform brown, green, or black, with numerous elongate white blotches upon the sides. 

 It is further distinguished from the Muskellunge, Esox nobilior, by the fact that the cheek in front 

 ef the fore operculum is covered with scales, while in the latter the lower half of the cheek is 

 entirely naked. 



It is sometimes known as the " Great Lake Pike." The name " Pickerel," which in England 

 is used as a diminutive, and applicable to the young Pike, has in this country been appropriated 

 to represent a smaller species of the same genus, Esox reticulatus, etc.; but our fishermen are not 

 usually so skilled in ichthyology as to be able to distinguish infallibly between a small Pike and 

 a large Pickerel : consequently there is frequent confusion of nomenclature, nor is this lack of 

 precision altogether absent from the writings of our early ichthyologists. 



The earliest biography of the Pike, written with reference to its American habitat, is that of 

 Richardson, in the "Fauna Boreali Americana." He states that "by the Cree Indians it is called 

 'Eithmyoo-cannooshffioo.' As it takes a bait set under the ice more rapidly than any other fish of 

 the same districts, it forms an important resource to the Indian hunter in the depth of winter, 

 when the chase fails him. In the summer it is occasionally shot while basking in shallow waters, 

 but, except in very urgent cases, powder and ball are of too high value in the fur countries to be 

 thus expended. No quadruped, bird, or fish that the Pike can capture seems to be secure from its 

 voracity, and even the spring perch is an acceptable prey to this water tyrant. The Pike rarely 

 weighs more than twelve pounds in the northern parts of America. One specimen, taken in Lake 

 Huron, was submitted to Cuvier's inspection, and it has also been carefully compared with English 

 Pike without any specific differences having been detected." 1 



Richardson further remarks that the Pike was not mentioned by Fabricius as a native of 

 Greenland, and has not been found on the islands of the Polar Sea. It has, however, been recently 

 discovered by Dr. Bean in a collection received from the island of Kodiak, Alaska. 



The Pike, almost universally despised, and generally, on account of its predacious habits, 

 regarded by the fishermen of our Great Lakes as a pest, is in Europe considered one of the most im- 

 portant of game fishes. Walton devotes to it an entire chapter, concluding with directions how to 

 "roast him when he is caught," and declaring that "when thus prepared he is 'choicely good' 

 too good for any but anglers or honest men." Mr. Chalmondeley-Pennell, a well-known English 

 writer on angling, has published a work, of considerable size, entitled "The Book of the Pike." 



HABITS OF THE PIKE IN EUROPE. So few have been the observations in this country, and so 

 much has Esox lucius been confused with the other species of the genus, that it seems impracticable 

 to compile from American authorities a satisfactory account of its life history, and in default thereof 

 is here presented a synopsis of what has been written concerning the habits of the species in 

 Europe, by Dr. L. Wittmack, director of the Agricultural Museum of Germany. It is not proba- 

 ble that the habits of the fish in America differ materially from those here described : still the 

 European investigations cannot fail to be interesting and suggestive to those who may hereafter 

 have the opportunity to study the fish in our own Great Lakes. 



The Pike occurs from Northern Asia to North America, and from Scandinavia to Italy. It 

 appears, according to Kroyer, to be absent from the Spanish Peninsula. It is found in all parts of 



i Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 124. 



