THE MASQ ALLONGE. 307 



The small lakes on the Manitoulin Islands contain 

 many large pike ; and in the lagoon on the shore of Lake 

 Ontario, before alluded to as the resort of wild ducks, 

 I have frequently seen large ones sunning themselves; 

 but in this place they are not easily tempted by any 

 bait, probably on account of food being so plentiful, for 

 the water literally swarmed with frogs and young fish. 



It is not easy to account for the presence of pike in 

 many of these isolated pools and small lakes, where, as 

 in the case of this lagoon, there is no stream whatever 

 flowing into or out of it. Yet it is conceivable that in 

 some instances by ordinary causes, such as floods or the 

 alteration of land level, fish may have found they: way 

 into such places, without our supposing with Gessner 

 that they are bred from aquatic plants by help of the 

 sun's heat! 



One of the most remarkable inhabitants of the Great 

 Lakes belongs to this family, namely, the celebrated 

 Masq' allonge {Esox estor of Cuvier) generally but erro- 

 neously called Maskinongd, Mascalonge, Muskalinge, Mas- 

 kalunge, and other barbarous corruptions of two simple 

 French words, signifying " long face." 



It bears a very strong resemblance to the foregoing, 

 though on examination several specific differences are to 

 be observed in addition to the very obvious ones of its far 

 greater size, and the deepness of the body in proportion 



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