PICKEREL. 169 



have had no scientific designation till named by Agassiz 

 Esox Lucioides, or on Long Island, Esox Fasciatus, or 

 on our principal inland waters, Esox BeUculatus, or in 

 some of the lakes of the Eastern States, where a fish is 

 caught, of which Dr. De Kay, in his " Natural History 

 of New York," doubts the existence, and which Dr. 

 Mitchill has dubbed the Federation Pike, Esox Tredeoeih- 

 radiat/ws. In truth, the distinction between the Mascal- 

 longe and the Grea,t Northern Pickerel is scarcely visi- 

 ble even to the eye of science, and to the unlearned is 

 marked only by a slight difference in the shape of the 

 head and the coloring of the sides. The light tint is yel- 

 low in the pickerel and white in the mascallonge, while 

 in the latter at times the sides have dark spots on a 

 white ground instead of the dark network of the pick- 

 erel. It has even been doubted whether these fish are 

 not identical, and the differences of size and color pro- 

 duced by local habits ; but the views of all practical fish- 

 ermen lean the other way, and they can at once distin- 

 guish the smallest mascallonge from the largest pickerel, 

 although they are unable to point out the precise dis- 

 tinctive characteristics ; while scientific men do make 

 out that there is a difference in the number of the fin- 

 rays. For the latter, however, although I have given 

 the most careful attention that could be expected from 

 an amateur, my enumeration differs from that of all 

 others as they differ among themselves. My computa- 

 tion of the fi^-rays gave — 



Dorsal 18 ; Pectoral 16 ; Yentral 11 ; Anal 17 ; Cau- 

 dal 24. 



While according to Dr. Mitchill they were respectively, 



8 



