PIKE. 



473 



The Umbres, — Family Umbridje. 



A small fish from Austria-Hungary known as the umbre ( Umbra krameri), 

 together with a second (JI. llmi), locally distributed in the fresh waters of the 

 United States, indicate a family distinguished from the Cypt'inodontidoe by the 

 upper jaw-margin being formed in front by the premaxillary bones and b}" 

 the maxillary bones at the sides ; the base of the skull being of simple structure 

 in both families. Like the cyprinodonts, the umbres have the head and body 

 scaled, and no barbels to the mouth. There is no fatty fin, and the dorsal is 

 opposite the pel vies, or a little behind them, while the anal is short, and the 

 caudal rounded. The stomach merely forms an expansion of the intestine ; 

 the air-bladder is simple ; and the false gills are hidden and glandular. The 

 European species, which is known as the hunds-jisch in Germany, dwells in 

 marshes and muddy pools, where it buries itself in the mud at the bottom. As in 

 most cyprinodonts, the males are smaller and more slender than the females, scarcely 

 reaching a couple of inches in length, whereas the latter grow to 3 or 3i inches. 



The Pike, — Family Esocid.-e. 



Such a familiar fish as the pike (Esox lucius) scarcely requires much in the 

 way of description, but it is an important one as representing, with other members 

 of the same genus, a family by itself. Agreeing with the umbres in the structure 



COMMON riKE. 



of the jaws, pike may be distinguished externally by the absence of scales on the 

 head, and internally by the more complex structure of the base of the skull. The 

 body is covered with cycloid scales ; there are neither barbels nor a fatty fin ; 

 and the dorsal is situated in the caudal region of the vertebral column, in the 

 position of the fatty fin of the salmon tribe. The stomach has no blind appendage, 

 the false gills are glandular and concealed, and the gill-opening is unusual ly wide. 

 In the upper jaw sickle-shaped teeth are borne by the premaxillre, palatines, and 

 vomer, the maxillae being toothless, while the lower teeth are of variable shape. 

 The long narrow body terminates in a forked caudal fin; and the long, broad, and 

 depressed snout has the lower jaw exceeding the upper in length. Confined to 

 the fresh waters of the temperate regions of the three northern continents, pike 

 may be considered a western rather than an eastern type, seeing that whereas the 

 common species has a range equivalent to that of the family, the whole of the 

 other six species are confined to the United States. In Europe the pike inhabits 



