FEECID^. 47 



dorsal and caudal mottled olive and yellowish. Base of pectorals 

 withoat distinct black spot. 



Fin-rays :— Dorsal XII or XIII— 1, 20 or 21. Anal II, 12. Lateral 

 line with about 90 scales. Pyloric caeca long and large, subequal, three 

 in number. 



Size very large ; this species reaches a length of nearly three feet and 

 a weight of twenty or thirty pounds. 



Sabitat.—U^per Mississippi Eiver, Great Lake Eegion and streams 

 of the Atlantic slope, south of New England, north to the Fur Countries. 



31. STIZOSTETHIUM SALMONEUM, Eafinesque. 



Blue Pike (Lake Erie)— White Salmon (Ohio River). 



Perca salmonea, Raf. (1818), Am. Monthly Mag. v, 354; (1820), Ich. Oh. 21. 

 Stizostedion salmoneum, Eap. (1820), Ich. Oh. 23. 



Stieostedium salmoneum, Cope (1865), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 82. — Jordan (1876), 

 Man. Vert. 225.— Cope (1870), Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. 449.— Jordan & Copeland 

 (1876), Check List, 136.— Nelson (1876), Bull. Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 36. 

 Stizostetliium salmoneum, Jordan (1877), Ann. N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist. — ; (1877), in 

 Klippart's Eept. Fish Commrs. Ohio, — . 

 ?? Perca nigropunetata, Kaf. (1820), Ich. Oh. 23 (very erroneous). 

 f? Pomacampsis nigropunctaUis, Eaf. (1820), Ich. Oh. 23. 



This species is very similar to the preceding in its technical charac- 

 ters, and it may prove to be merely a variety. The body is shorter, 

 thicker, and deeper, with slenderer caudal peduncle, the diameter of 

 which is not much greater than that of the large eye. The mouth is 

 smaller, the maxillary not reaching quite to the posterior margin of the 

 pupil, 3 in head; the eye is larger, its diameter equal to the length of 

 the snout or that of the preopercle ; the lower jaw is slightly included. 



The dorsal spines are evidently considerably lower than in 8. vitreum, 

 the longest about equal to the distance from the snout to a point just 

 short of hinder margin of orbit, about 21 in head. 



The coloration is similar to that of 8. vitreum, but the adult is bluer 

 or greener, with scarcely any of the brassiness characteristic of the lat- 

 ter species. The coloration of the fins is darker, and there are traces 

 of a blackish horizontal band along the dorsal in addition to the large 

 black blotch on the hinder rays. Young specimens (from Ohio Eiver) 

 are more silvery, with traces of faint black bars along the back. 



Fin-rays: — Dorsal XIV — 1, 20. Anal II, 13. Lateral line with 95 

 scales. Opercular spine single, as in 8. vitreum. Cheeks largely naked. 

 Pyloric coeca three, large, longer than stomach, as in the preceding 

 species. 



