998 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
forms the very tip of the snout, and its inferior 
covering-bone, the head of the vomer. This peculiarity 
shows that the Pikes occupy a comparatively low rank 
in the system of the Teleosts, during whose evolution 
the rostro- ethmoidal part of the snout has suffered re- 
duction, while the parts of the upper jaw have been 
more strongly developed. In the head of the Pikes 
too the primordial chondrocranium is persistent to about 
the same extent as in the Salmonoids. The hyoman- 
dibular bones of the Pikes (tig. 253, A and F, hm ) 
show a great resemblance to those of the Gadoids in 
the long, backward process {hmp) with the top of which 
the operculum {op) articulates. The anterior of the 
two articular heads {lima) which serve to articulate the 
hyomandibular bone with the cranium, is directed so 
obliquely inwards that it meets the petrosal bone {ptr, 
prooticum , fig. 253, E), instead of having its articular 
cavity, as is usually the case, on the under surface of 
the postfrontal bone ( spho , sphenoticam). 
This family contains only one genus. 
Genus ESOX. 
Body elongated , with the abdominal part longest and of uniform depth °, more or less terete or compressed. The 
dorsal and anal fins , which are opposed to each other, short and of the same size. Caudal fin forked. Middle- 
sized or small cycloid scales cover the body entirely, the head partially. Pseudobranchice hidden. 
Branchiostegal rays 
The genus of the Pikes, with its five or six spe- 
cies, is distributed over the rivers and lakes of the 
north temperate zone both in the Old and New Worlds, 
a relic of the period when a land communication, with 
collections of fresh water within its bounds, existed 
between Europe and North America b But only one 
species is found in the Old World. 
numerous {11 — 20). 
The generic name of Esox was adopted by Artedi 1 
from Pliny d , who applied it to a large fish of the Rhine. 
GesneiP had already conjectured that the Pike was pro- 
bably the fish meant; but not even he was confident of 
the correctness of his opinion. In his works, as in most 
of the ancient authors, the genus was called Lucius, the 
Italian Luzzo, from the Greek Xvxof. 
THE PIKE (sw. gaddan). 
ESOX LUCIUS. 
Plate XLIV, fig. 4. 
Cheeks and temples, together with the upper part of tfie opercula and the posterior part of the occiput {to a line 
with the upper end of the preoperculum) covered with scales; the rest of the head naked. Usually 14 {13 — 15) 
branchiostegal rays. Sides of the body spotted with yellow or yellowish white, the unpaired fins with brown. 
V. 
6—8 
R. br. 13 — 15?; D. ; A. 
15 — 17 
— — — ; C. a? + 1 + 17 + 1 + a:; Lin. 
(5)6-8 1 
1 2 — 1 3 ( 1 4) ' ‘ 14 — 15’ 
lat. ca 125 — 130: L. tv. 
ca 26 — 28 supra pinn. ventr.; Vert. (58)59 — 62. 
Syn. Esox(?), Pun. 1. c. Lucius, Auson., Mos., vers. 122; Belon, 
Fat., Divers. Poiss., p. 292; Rondel., Pise. Lacustr., p. 
188; Gesn., 1. c., p. 500; Schonev., Ichtliyol. Slesv. Hols., 
p. 44; Willughb., Hist. Pise., p. 236. Esox rostro plagio- 
plateo, Art., Syn. Pise., p. 26; De.scr. Spec. Pise., p. 53; 
Lin., Fn. Suec., ed. I, p. 114. 
a With the exception of gravid females with pendent belly. 
b Smitt, Ryggradsdjurens geologiska utve elding och slagtskapsfdrliallanden, p. 59. 
c Gen. Pise., p. 14. 
d Lib. IX, cap. 15. 
e Hist. Anim., lib. IV, p. 368. 
f Belon derived the name from the Latin lucere, “because the fish when dried shines in the dark” (see Gesner, 1. c., p. 502). 
? Sometimes 16, according to Fries and EkstrOm. 
