136 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



from the snout, twenty-two rays. The caudal, which is 

 deeply lunate, has twenty-eight rays ; the six in the centre 

 are branched. 



The specimen from which Frank Forester's drawing was 

 taken must have been unusually stout ; a fish of eighteen 

 pounds should measure over three feet, instead of two and a 

 half. My representation is a drawing of a smaller specimen ; 

 like the picture of the Great Northern Pickerel, it is an attempt 

 of my own, which, though rude, is mathematically correct in 

 its proportions. 



The Mascalonge differs materially from the Pickerel de- 

 scribed on a preceding page ; the head is extremely small, a 

 section of the body presenting almost an oval ; the mouth is 

 smaller, not opening so far back ; the color of its body much 

 more silvery, the spots being dark instead of white, also of 

 different shape, and much larger than in the Pickerel. The 

 tail of the Pickerel is bilobed ; while that of the Mascalonge 

 is deeply lunate. 



It is said that this fish is found in the Wisconsin and 

 Upper Mississippi, about the Falls of St. Anthony. It is 

 generally sought for in the upper waters of the St. Lawrence, 

 and the smaller lakes on the Canada side, by anglers from the 

 Eastern cities. From all accounts they were never numerous ; 

 the angler who captures four or five of fair size in a day's 

 fishing at Alexandria Bay, is considered in luck. Eice Lake, 

 farther west on the Canada side, is said to afford them in some 

 abundance, though twelve or fifteen of six or seven pounds 

 weight is reported to be a good day's fishing even there. 



This fish is said to attain a weight of sixty or seventy 

 pounds, but generally it does not exceed the size of the Blue 

 Pike taken in the rivers and small lakes of Western Penn- 

 sylvania. Its size varies from three to thirty pounds ; a few 

 have been taken as high as forty ; one or two instances only 



