RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 869 
to all the lakes and fresh rivers of the Eastern, Middle, 
and North-western States. It is closely allied to the 
English pike, and is a very ugly-looking fish, the head 
being large, the jaws long and savage-looking, and armed 
with several hundred teeth; the tail is lunated; the color 
is a pale olive-gray, becoming deeper on the back, and 
marked on the sides with several yellowish spots or 
patches. Sometimes the pickerel reaches an enormous size, 
instances having been known in which it was taken more 
than three feet in length. The food of the pickerel con- 
sists of fish, frogs, rats, the young of water-fowl, or, in 
fact, any thing in the shape of animal food. They spawn 
in March and April, among the weeds of their favorite 
haunts. 
The Cuus, Roacu and Dace are common in all Amer- 
ican streams, but are little fished for except by boys, and 
are worthless on the table. 
The Common Carr, Cyprinus. Carpio, is the type of 
a family which have all a small mouth without teeth, but 
possessing a bony apparatus in the throat as a substitute. 
They have only one dorsal fin. The common carp is not 
a native of Great Britain, but was introduced by the 
monks to serve the purposes of the table during their 
fasts. In length it is usually from one foot to one foot 
six inches. The back is arched and thick; color yellow- 
ish, approaching to brown over the back, and to white 
under the belly. The mouth has a short beard on each 
side, both above and below; on the sides are some black- 
ish specks; fins, brown; tail, brown, and forked. Carp 
feed on worms and insects, and are very prolific, living 
16* 
