72 THE FISHES OF OHIO. 



bluish or greenish, gray, with many whitish or yellowish spots arranged 

 somewhat in rows. Dorsal, anal and caudal fins with roundish or oblong,, 

 black spots. Length 4 feet. 



The Pickerel is said to have been very abundant at one time 

 in all the streams flowing into Lake Erie and somewhat less- 

 common in the Ohio river drainage. In the latter it has now, as 

 far as Ohio is concerned, become quite rare, and in the lake 

 drainage, and even in the lake itself, it has noticeably diminished 

 in numbers. Kirtland gives it as "common both to the waters 

 of the Ohio and the lake." Lake Erie and Sandusky river, 

 Henshall, 1889 ; Lorain County, Lake Erie and Black river, 

 ' ' often killed in the ponds and channels of the snipe ground 

 when they are spawning," McCormick, 1892 ; St. Joseph river at 

 Edgerton, Tiffin river at West Unity and Brunersburg, Auglaize 

 river at Cloverdale, Kirsch, 1893 ; Sandusky Bay, R. C. Osburn, 

 1899 ; Licking reservoir, a single specimen, lyd feet in length. 

 R. C. Osburn, 1900. 



Lucius masquinongy (Mitchill). Muskali^unge. 



Head 3%; depth 6; eye 4 to 6 in snout. D. 17; A. 15; scales 150. Gen- 

 eral form of L. lucius; the head proportionately longer. Cheeks and oper- 

 cles both naked below. Color dark gray, sides in the typical form, mas- 

 quinongy, with round or squarish, blackish spots of varying size on a ground 

 color of grayish silvery; belly white; fins spotted with black. Length 4 to 

 8 feet. 



This magnificent Pike is represented in Ohio by two varieties, 

 as follows : L. masquinongy var. masquinongy , the typical form, 

 confined to Lake Erie and its tributary rivers, and L. Masqiii- 

 nongy ohiensis (Kirtland), confined to the Ohio river and its 

 tributary streams. The variety ohiensis is separated from the 

 typical form by the presence of narrow irregular crossbars, 

 formed by the coalescing of spots on the sides. Kirtland records 

 the former for Lake Erie and the Ohio canal near Massilon, 

 1838,. and the latter for the Mahoning river, 1854; Ohio river 

 and Lake Erie, Henshall, 1889 ; McCormick records the species 

 for Lorain County, and states that it is growing rare, being 

 seldom taken in the pounds ; Kirsch, in 1893, speaks in the same 

 strain of their diminishing numbers in Maumee river and the 

 west end of Lake Erie. 



