84 Mr. Couch on the Natural Historij 



Esox. 



Garpike. E. Belone. — This fish comes in April, and sometimes 

 continues so late as near the end of December ; after this 

 it is not seen. It keeps at no great distance from the sur- 

 face, and swims with great rapidity. When it swallows the 

 hook, and finds itself restrained by the line, it mounts to the 

 surface, and, with the body half out of the water, struggles 

 to set itself free, even before the fisherman perceives that 

 he has hooked a fish. The intestinal canal of this fish runs 

 straight from the gullet to the anus, without any appendix 

 or convolution, or distinction between the stomach and the 

 bowels. 



Skipper. E.Saurus. — ^This species does not take a bait. A native 

 of the same climate, this fish nearly resembles the Flying- 

 fish in its manners and its fate. Frequently, when the wea- 

 ther is fair, they are seen to spring from the bosom of the 

 deep, pass over a space of thirty or forty feet, and plunge 

 into the water to rise again in a moment and flit over the 

 same distance. Sometimes this may proceed from wanton- 

 ness, and sometimes probably from an impulse to escape 

 from the voracious inhabitants of the deep : but it seems 

 surprising that a fish so scantily provided with fins should 

 be able to make such an extraordinary leap ; for the pec- 

 toral fins, instead of reaching nearly to the tail, as in the 

 Flying- fish, are very small; and though well adapted by 

 their figure to raise and direct the head, cannot afford assist- 

 ance in supporting the body in the air. The whole motion 

 is effected by the action of the tail and finlets alone, and is 

 more properly a leap than a flight. This is an excellent fish 

 for the table. 



Sea Pike. E. Sphyrana. — I have been informed that a fish of 



this 



