1558 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



SECTION OF A FUR SKAL ROOKERY 

 Photograph made twenty years ago by C. H. Townsend. 



TWENTY-FOUR WAYS OF SPELLING A 

 FISH'S NAME 



FORMERLY a man was not considered ac- 

 complished unless he could spell his 

 name several different ways. Even in 

 his will his utmost versatility was displayed in 

 this respect — a procedure which would, in all 

 likelihood, invalidate the document under mod- 

 ern process of probate. Sometimes each of the 

 children spelled the name a different way, and 

 in some of the old New England graveyards 

 several variations occur in the stones of a fam- 

 ily plot. The irritation of people nowadays 

 when their names are not spelled in precisely 

 one way, is an amusing illustration both of the 

 reversal of fashion and the hold that fashion 

 has upon us. 



In the naming of a certain fish, however, the 

 old custom still prevails, and our ancestors are 

 quite outdone in the case of this giant pike 

 whose name is spelled in at least twenty-four 

 different waj^s: 



Ways beginning with Ma 



Mascalonge Maskallonge 



Mascolonge Maskalonge 



Maskalunge Maskinoje 



Maskanonge Maskinonge 



Maskenonge Mask-Kinonge 



jNIas Kenosha Masquallonge 



Maskenozha Masquinongy 



(Of these, Mas Kenosha, Maskinonge and 

 Mask-Kinonge are names given to the fish by 

 the Ojibway Indians.) 



Way beginning with Mo 

 Moska longe 



Ways beginning with Mu 

 Muscalonge Muskallunge 



Muskalinge Muskalonge 



Muskallonge Muskellunge 



Way beginning with an N 

 Noscononge 



And it is written in French Masque longue, 

 also Masque allonge — that is to say, "long 

 face." 



The question of a settled form for spelling 

 the name of this fish was considered at the 

 Aquarium several years ago, and Muskallunge 

 was decided upon. This spelling has been 

 used ever since in Aquarium publications. 



I. M. M. 



