180 



THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



CHAPTER YIII. 



Seriea I. BONY FISHES. 



OrdtT II. MALACOPTEBYGII ABDOMIWAZES • 



Family ESOCIS^L t- 

 Genus ESOX I. 



THE PIKE. 



(Esox Iiiciiis |.) 



Characteristics of the Pike Famihj. — Head depressed, large, oblong, 

 blunt. Body elongated, rounded on the back; sides compressed, 

 covered w-ith scales. Dorsal fin placed very far back, over anal fin. 

 Jaws, palatine bones, and vomer furnished with teeth of various sizes. 



Contains only one genus, Esox, the characteristics of which are 

 consequently similar to those above named. 



The Pike, from its high rank as a game fish, as well as 

 from its edible qualities, deserves to command next to the 

 Salmon and Trout the attention of anglers; but whilst 

 the habits and history of the latter have been made, over 

 and over again, the subject of elaborate treatises and mi- 

 nute exhaustive investigations, those of the former — if not 

 as important, at least equally interesting — have been passed 

 over for the most part with merely superficial notice. 



* " Abdominal soft-finned fishes " (p. 37). f The Family of the Pikes. 

 J Esox, a Pike ; lucius, the Pike, Latin names. 



