736 PISCES-PIKE. 



According to the common saying, these fish were introduced into England 

 in the reign of Henry the Eighth, in 1537. They were so rare, that a pike 

 was sold for double the price of a house-lamb, in February, and a pickerel 

 for more than a fat capon. 



All writers who treat of this species bring instances of its vast voracious- 

 ness. We have known one that was choked by attempting to swallow one 

 of its own species that proved too large a morsel. Yet its jaws are very 

 loosely connected ; and have on each side an additional bone like the jaw of 

 a viper, which renders them capable of great distention when it swallows its 

 prey. It does not confine itself to feed on fish and frogs; it will devour 

 the water-rat, and draw down the young ducks as they are swimming about. 



At the marquis of Stafford's canal at Trentham, England, a pike seized 

 the head of a swan, as she was feeding under water, and gorged so much of 

 it as killed them both. The servants perceiving the swan with its head 

 under water for a longer time than usual, took the boat, and found both swan 

 and pike dead. 



But there are instances of its fierceness still more surprising, and which, 

 irdeed, border a little on the marvellous. Gesner relates, that a famished 



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pike in the Rhone seized on the lips of a mule, that was brought to water 

 and that the beast drew the fish out before it could disengage itself; that 

 people have been bit by these voracious creatures while they were washing 

 their legs ; and that they will even contend with the otter for its prey, and 

 endeavour to force it out of its mouth. 



Pike spawn in March or April, according to the coldness or Avarmth of the 

 weather. AVhen they are in high season, their colors are very fine, being 

 green, spotted with bright yellow; and the gills are of a most vivid and full 

 red. When out of season, the green changes to gray, and the yellow spots 

 turn pale. 



The head is very flat; the upper jaw broad, and is shorter than the lower; 

 the under jaw turns up a little at the end, and is marked with minute punc- 

 tures. The teeth are very sharp, disposed not only in the front of the up- 

 per jaw, but in both sides of the lower, in the roof of the mouth, and often 

 the tongue. The slit of the mouth, or the gape, is wide ; the eyes small. 

 The dorsal fin is placed very low on the back, and consists of twenty-one 

 rays; the pectoral, of fifteen; the ventral, of eleven; the anal of eighteen. 

 The tail is bifurcated. 



