90 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

only east of the Alleghenies from Massachusetts to Florida in coastwise 
streams. In Pennsylvania it is limited to waters in the eastern part of 
the state. 
This pickerel is too small to have much importance as a food fish. 
It resembles in general appearance and habits the little pickerel of the 
West. Itfrequents clear, cold and rapid brooks and is said to associate 
with the brook trout without injury to the latter. 
104. Esox vermiculatus Le Svevr. 
The Little Pickerel. (Figure 54) 
The little pickerel has a short, stout body and along head. The greatest depth is 
nearly one-fifth of the length without caudal and two-thirdslength of head. Length 
of head two-sevenths of total without caudal. Eye two-fifths length of snout, one- 
sixth length of head. The maxilla reaches to below middle of eye. Cheeks and 
opercles fully scaled. Dorsal origin twice as far from eye as from end of scales; its 
base two-fifths head ; its longest ray nearly one-half head. Anal under dorsal and 
with slightly longerrays. Ventral nearly midway between tip of snout and end of 
scales; its length equal to snout and to pectoral. B. 11-13; D. 12; A. 11 or 12; scales 
in lateral line 105. : 
Body green or grayish, usually with many irregular streaks or reticulations, which 
are sometimes entirely lacking. Sides of the head generally variegated. A dark 
bar extends downward from the eye and another one forward. Fins plain, but the 
caudal is sometimes mottled at its base. 
This pickerel inhabits the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers 
and streams flowing into the Great Lakes from the southward. In ponds 
formed in the spring by the overflow of river banks it is one of the char- 
acteristic fishes and is often destroyed in great numbers by the drying 
wp of such bodies of water. In Pennsylvania the little pickerel, or trout 
pickerel, is common in the Ohio and its tributaries. Prof. Cope men- 
tions it also as an inhabitant of the Susquehanna river, wherein it is 
probably not a native. 
This fish grows to the length of one foot and is, therefore, too small 
to lave much importance for food. 
105. Esox reticulatus Lr Svevr. 
The Chain Pickerel. (Figure 55.) 
The chain pickerel has a long and slender body, its depth near the middle equal- 
ing about two-thirds the length of the head and contained five to six times in the 
total without caudal. Thecaudal peduncle is slender, its depth little more than one- 
third greatest depth of body. The snout is long and pointed, as long as the post- 
orbital part of the head and about three times the length of the eye, which is one- 
seventh to one-eighth length of head. The dorsal base equals two-fifths length of 
head ; its longest ray equal to snout. The anal begins under the third or fourth ray 
of the dorsal; its longest ray nearly one-half as long asthe head. Caudal deeply 
forked. Ventral half way from tip of snout to end of scales ; its length equal tosnout 
and slightly greater than length of pectoral. B. 15; D. 15; A. 14; scales in the lateral 
line about 125. The cheeks and opercles are completely scaled. 
The color is usualiy greenish sometimes brown or almost black. On the sides are 
many narrow dark lines connected by cross streaks forming a network which sug- 
gested thename reticulatus. Occasionally the body is uniform greenish asin a speci- 
men taken in the Potomac river afew years ago. Inthe young the reticulations are 
very obscure and a pale stripe is found along the middle line on the second haif 
