124 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



The fish are of the same species and exactly alike structurally, but it will be noticed 

 that they are marked differently, and it was for this purpose that they were colored 

 for this report. Both fish are reticulated in accordance with their specific name, but 

 one fish is spotted with spots that are nearly round, while the other has oblong spots 

 and the dark lines are more regular in the pond fish than in the river fish, which will 

 be observed by lifting the plates level with the eye and looking along the fish from 

 tail to head. 



There is no good reason for confounding the pike-perch with the pike, as one look 

 at the colored plate will show the former fish with two dorsal fins, while the pike has but 

 one. The pike-perch are hatched artificially by the State in large numbers, and it is an 

 excellent food fish as well as a game fish to be taken with hook and line. The pike 

 and pickerel are not hatched artificially in this country, but the pike is cultivated 

 in Germany by artificial methods and is more highly regarded in Europe than in 

 America. 



The reason for this is that we have such a great number of so-called game fishes 

 that are considered superior to the pike, that it has been relegated to an inferior 

 position, and still the pike has its loyal adherents who regard it highly as a rod fish 

 and as a table fish. Should any one be in doubt about the species of any of the 

 fish named and desire to fit the fish with its proper name, the plates here given will 

 prove a sure guide. 



A. N. CHENEY, 



State Fish Citlturist. 



