THE PIKE FAMILY. I49 



Mississippi. It is called Piconeau or Picaneau by the Cana- 

 dians and Missourians. It reaches the length of from three 

 to five feet. The pectoral and abdominal fins are trapezoidal, 

 the anal and dorsal longitudinal, with many rays and nearly 

 equal. It is sometimes called Jack or Jackfish. Lateral line 

 straight." 



I saw an account, and an engraving of a fish of this species 

 in some scientific journal a few years since, at the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and fully intended to have 

 referred to it in this work ; but on looking for it recently — 

 having forgotten the title of the periodical — much to my 

 regret I was unable to find it, even with the assistance of the 

 librarian. 



I have been told by Kentucky anglers that this Pike takes 

 a Ch^ib or a Sucker a foot long, and prefers a bait of that size 

 to a smaller one ; and that in setting night-lines for it, the 

 usual way is to go in a boat to pools which it frequents, and 

 tie the line to the limb of a tree, extending over the water. 

 When the fish takes the bait, the branch giving, allows him 

 to run a little with his prey, and when he is securely hooked, 

 it also acts as a rod, yielding, though still holding him. 



Miraculous stories are told of the size of a Pike found in 

 the Kanawha and other tributaries of the Ohio, below "Wheel- 

 ing, Virginia, which must be of the species referred to above. 

 If these accounts are to be credited, it is the largest Pike 

 ever taken with hook and line — excepting, always, Pliny's 

 and old Gesner's. 



One of the stories alluded to, I heard many years ago, when 

 detained at Wheeling, Virginia, waiting for the Cincinnati 

 packet. It was from the hostler of the hotel opposite the 

 steamboat landing. He told me that the proprietor, who was 

 then on a fishing excursion to the Kanawha, on a former trip 



