220 MALACOPTERYGII.— ESOCTDyE. 
head ; a mouth deeply cleft, and armed on nearly \ 
the whole of its interior with minute teeth, besides > 
a row of strong, long, pointed ones on each lower 
jaw. The body is clothed with small, distinct 
scales. But two or three species are known, in- 
habiting the fresh waters of Europe and North 
America. Of these the most celebrated is our 
own Pike or Jack, {Esox lucius, Linn.) 
The body of the Pike is much lengthened, some- 
what four-sided, with the single dorsal placed very 
far behind. The head is flat, and produced into 
a broad, rounded muzzle, bearing no small resem- 
blance to a duck’s beak, when viewed from above. 
The gills open far back, behind the pectorals ; 
the eyes are placed near the top of the head. The 
general form of the head bears an analogy with ' 
that of the Crocodile’s, nor do the strong and sharp 
teeth of the lower jaw diminish the resemblance. 
The colour of the upper parts is dusky olive, 
marked with close set rows of small silver spots, 
produced by the disks of the scales. The sides 
are mottled with yellow and grey, and the belly 
is white. The flns are dusky, the dorsal, anal, 
and caudal, clouded and spotted with dark brown 
and red. The lateral line is scarcely distinguish- 
able ; but is nearly straight. The eyes are pale 
golden. 
The scales are rather small for the size of the 
flsh ; they are more or less rounded in outline, 
without any points behind, or any structure there 
differing from the other parts, the concentric 
lines, which are very flne and close, being conti- 
nuous all round. The front edge has some radiat- 
ing undulations, the usual number of which is 
three, though sometimes two, and sometimes four, 
