14 
E S 
anal, fins are reddifh ; the dorfal and tail are bluifli, and 
t"he back itfelf is of the fame colour. It haunts the Me¬ 
diterranean and Atlantic; Plumier and Parra found it 
near the Antilles, and lorfkal in Greece ; Willughby at 
Leghorn, and Cette in Sardinia. It grows two feet long', is 
a great devo'ui er of other fi(h ; and is commonly found 
’ Tlou ^ s r ivers. The flefii is firm and good, 
tailing like cod. See a figure of this fpecies in the cor- 
refponrling engraving. 
2. Elox argenteo-viridis, - the filver.green pike. Spe¬ 
cific character, two dorlal fins, the dorfal and anal fins 
not furrowed; general colour filver-green without fpots, 
bands, or ftripes ; five rays in the firfi dorfal fin, 9 in the 
fecond and in the anal. The lower jaw is the longed ; 
teeth ftrong, hooked, almoft equal, not numerous. The 
eyes are large, with a black pupil and filvery iris. The 
opercula are nearly rounded backwards,- and not fcaly. 
Obferved by Commerfon ; and pourtrayed in the Chinefe 
paintings brought from Holland into France. 
3. Efox aureo-viridis, the gold-green pike. Specific 
character, two dorfal fins, nearly equal in fize, dole toge¬ 
ther, high and triangular; general colour green gold, 
without Ipots, bars, or ftripes ; feven rays in the firfi dorfal 
fin, 6 in the fecond, and anal. This is a beautiful fpecies. 
I ne back is raifed ; the lower jaw the longer, and the 
front very (harp pointed. The irides are yellow ; the 
eye looks like a faphire let in a topaz. 
4. Efox argento-cseruleus, the (ilver-blue pike. Spe¬ 
cific character, two dorlal fins, moft of the fins fickle- 
lhaped ; prevailing Colour blue, with many round une¬ 
qual fpots of a darker blue along the lateral line ; five 
rays in the firlt dorfal, ten in tlie fecond, eight in the 
anal. 1 he head is very long ; body and tail extremely 
narrow ; the opercula rounded, and free from feales. 
The drefs of this is lefs rich, but perhaps more elegant 
than that of the preceding ; the filver reflections give a 
fafeinating grace to the various (hades of blue. The eye 
Ihines like a ruby. In fliape it refembles a ferpent or an 
eel. The lower jaw is rather longed ; the operculum in 
three pieces; the lateral line nearly ftraight. 
5. Efox acus, the needle pike. Specific character, 
two dorlal fins; tail lunate, the upper horn longed; 
jaws very narrow, pointed, and twice as long as the 
head. Eight or nine rays in the membrane of the gills : 
fix or feven in the firft dorfal, in the fecond, in the 
anal; the two lad fins fickle-lhaped. The lower jaw is 
longed, and each contains about fifty long narrow hooked 
teeth, nearly equal in fize, and each anfwering to the 
interval left between the teeth in the other jaw. 
6. Efox ofteus, the Cayman gar-filh. Specific charac¬ 
ter, feales brown, tail quadrangular : the fird ray of each 
fin lerrated ; this arifes from the edges of the feales 
reaching over the primary rays : over each joining of the 
phalanges of the fird ray there are two bony oblong feales, 
ending (harp, and thefe lharp points lie over the feales 
of the following joint; this forms the ferrature ; and may 
ferve to didinguifh this fifti not only from all the pikes, 
but from every other fifti at prefent.known ; for the hard 
rays are not in one piece, as in other fifh, but made up 
of joints, like the flexible rays. The peCtoral fins have 
12 rays, the ventrals 6, the anal 9, the tail 15, the dorfal 
9. The head is flat, without feales, and nearly as long 
as the body ; the jaws are very long, plentifully furnifhed 
with teeth, and the upper is the longed; the teeth are 
very dtarp, and dand apart, with fome larger ones inter¬ 
na xed. There is a furrow at the upper jaw, and feveral 
angular marks on the tides of the head, looking as if 
feales had been rubbed off. The eyes are near the cor¬ 
ners of the mouth ; pupil black, iris orange-colour. The 
nodrils are fingle, lying at the extremity of the fnout. 
The gill-coverts are radiated : the aperture is wide. The 
feales are remarkable, as well from their bony nature 
(whence the Latin name) as from their fliape : thofe of 
the back are (t aped like a heart, on the fides they are ob¬ 
long, on ti e belly lozenge-(haped, and on the fins pointed, 
as we hat e before obferved ; they run in an oblique di- 
O X. 
reCtion towards the belly, each fcale partakes of a dark 
colour and a light one, and feems compofed of feveral 
triangles. The dorfal and tail fins are covered with feales 
at their origin. The fins are (hort, and of a reddifh co¬ 
lour, with ramified rays ; the lower ones are fpotted with 
black. The back is,green, which grows lighter towards 
the Tides ; the belly inclines to red. This fifh is found 
in the lakes and rivers of both Indies; for Valentine 
(peaks of it in his defeription of the Eaft Indies, Catefby 
in his Carolina, and Brown in his Jamaica; Schaspf in¬ 
cludes it among the fifties of New York, Parra among 
thofe of the Havannah ; Cardine received it from Galli- 
cia, and Bloch from Cnarlefron. It is from two to three 
feet long : the fiefh is fat and good. It is very greedy, 
and thereby the more eafily caught. It is fometimes 
found on the coaft of Suffex in England. See a figur^of 
it in the Efox Plate II. 
7. Efox fpatula, the fpatula pike. Specific character, 
one dorfal fin lying far back, the firfi ray of every fin 
ftrong and ferrated ; feales bony ; jaws long and deprefted, 
the upper longeft ; the tip of the fnout broader than the 
reft of the jaws. Eleven rays in the dorfal fin, 9 in the 
anal, 13 in the peCtorals, 6 in the ventrals. The head 
is flattened and comprefted, covered with large bony 
plates, radiated and prickly ; it is upon the whole nearly 
half as long as the body ; four or five rough bony plates 
lie upon the upper part of the upper jaw on each fide ; 
and feveral (imilar bony pieces, but jointed together, 
cover the Tides of the head beyond the eyes. The oper¬ 
cula is made up of three pieces of a bony nature like the 
above, and (freaked. In each jaw are two rows of fhort, 
uneven, hooked, crowded, teeth ; befides which the up¬ 
per is furnifhed with two rows of long, furrowed, (harp, 
regular teeth, (landing apart; the lower jaw has but one 
row of the long teeth, anfwering to the longitudinal in¬ 
terval wlvioh divides the two rows in the upper jaw. The 
large teeth are all received into correfponding cavities in 
the oppofite jaw. Two of the long furrowed teeth of the 
lower jaw crofs the upper jaw when the mouth is (hut, 
and (hew their points above it, as in the crocodile. The 
upper jaw, being narrower than the under, fhews very 
evidently the broadening of the end of the fnou.t, which 
gives it the appearance of a fpatula. The eyes are near 
the corners of the mouth. From the nape to the dorfal 
fin are about fifty oblique rows of bony feales; they are 
lozenge-fhaped, (freaked, and ferrated ; they form a dou¬ 
ble keel and a furrow along the back-bone. The dorfal 
fin is oppofite the anal ; the ventrals equidiftant between 
the anal and peCtorals. 
8. Efox viridis, the green pike. Specific character, 
colour green, lower jaw" longeft, feales thin. There are 
11 rays in the dorfal and pectoral fins, 6 in the ventrals, 
17 in the anal, and 16 in the tail, which is rounded. This 
fpecies inhabits the frefn waters of Carolina in North 
America, where it was obferved by Catefby and Dr. Gar¬ 
den. The dorfal and anal fins are exactly oppofite ;■ feales 
diftinCt. 
9. Efox vulpes, the fox pike. Specific character, dor¬ 
fal fin in the middle of the back, gill-membrane 3-rayed. 
There are 14 rays in the dorfal fin and in each peCtoral, 
8 in the ventrals, 10 in the anal, 17 in the tail, which is 
ere fee nt-fit aped. This fpecies alfo inhabits North Ame¬ 
rica. It has one row of little (harp teeth in each jaw ; a 
fingle dorfal fin; fome of the fins are a little inclined to 
the (hape of a fickle. The feales are large; back yel- 
lowilh ; belly inclining to white : length fixteen inches 
or more. 
10. Efox fynodus, the banded pike. Specific charac¬ 
ter, dorfal fin in the middle of the back, gill membrane 
five-rayed ; brown bands on the body. In the dorfal fin 
11 rays, in the peCtorals 12, ventrals and tail 8, anal 6. 
This is likewife an inhabitant of North America, and in 
fome refpetts refembles the laft. It is found alfo about 
Nice, in the Mediterranean, as Cepede was informed by 
citizen Giorna, of the mufeum of natural hiftory at Tu¬ 
rin. The head is fomewhat deprefted between the eyes ;. 
