THE SAUGER. 
THE PIKE-PERCHES. 
Stizostedion vitreum and S. canadense. 
The surest way 
To take the fish, is give her leave to play, 
And yield her line. 
Quar.es, Shepheard’s Eclogues, rbgq. 
HE Pike-Perches have been known to the inhabitants of Continental 
Europe for many centuries, and on account of their elongated form 
and large teeth were described by Gesner.and other medizval naturalists 
under the name Luctoperca—a name intended to describe their general ap- 
pearance, since their proportions resemble those of the pikes, while their 
structure resembles that of the perch, to which they are closely allied. 
Linnezus in his ichthyological system, named the Scandinavian species 
Perca Luctoperca, and placed it in the same genus with the perch, where 
it remained until the time of Cuvier and Rafinesque. The former set aside 
this group of fishes in 1817, under the group name of ‘‘ Les Sandres,’’ but ne- 
glected to formally propose the genus named /wcioperca, until the publi- 
cation of the second edition of his ‘‘ Animal Kingdom’”’ in 1829. In the 
meantime the Sicilian explorer, Rafinesque, had published in 1820, his 
“¢ Ohio Ichthyology,’’ andnamed the fish S¢zostedion, an appellation which, 
however meaningless and cacophonous, priority requires shall always be 
borne by the Pike-Perches. American ichthyologists have already submitted 
to this necessity, but those of the old world still cling to the venerable and 
euphonious Luctoperca. 
The Pike-Perches are distributed throughout the waters of the northern 
hemispheres in much the same manner as the perch, though absent from 
