2 So AMERICAN FISHES. 



The Pikes have been well described as mere machines for the assimi- 

 lation of animal matter. They are the wolves of the ponds, the blue-fish 

 of the fresh waters, and nothing comes amiss to their ravenous maws. 

 The habits of the European species are thus described by a recent writer : 



"Shrouded from observation in his solitary retreat, he follows with his 

 eye the motions of the shoals of fish that wander heedlessly along ;' he 

 marks the water-rat, swimming to his burrow, the ducklings paddling 

 among the waterweeds, the dabchicks and moorhens leisurely swimming 

 on the surface, he selects his victim, and like the tiger springing from the 

 jungle, he rushes forth, seldom indeed missing his aim ; there is a sudden 

 rush, circle after circle forms on the surface of the water, and all is still 

 again in an instant." 



"No quadruped, bird or fish that the Pike can capture, seems to be 

 secure from its voracity, and even the spiny perch is an acceptable prey 

 to this water tyrant," wrote Richardson, speaking of its habits in British 

 America. 



The breeding habits of the Pike have been best described b}' my 

 friend Prof. Benecke, of Konigsberg, who writes: 



" The Pike inhabits all the waters of Germany except shallow and 

 rapid brooks. It prefers clear, quiet water with clean bottom ; is usually 

 active at night and quiet in the daytime ; lurks among" the plants in con- 

 venient corners, whence it rushes forth with arrow-like velocity. It lives 

 a hermit life, only consorting in pairs during the spawning season. The 

 pair of fish then resort to shallow places upon meadows and banks which 

 have been overflowed, and, rubbing violently upon each other, deposit 

 their spawn in the midst of powerful blows of their tails. The female 

 deposits generally about 100,000 yellowish eggs, about three millimeters 

 in diameter, out of which in the course of fourteen days the young, with 

 their great umbilical sacs, escape." 



In Germany, the spawning time of the Pike, as is shown in an elaborate 

 table presented by Wittmack, often begins in the latter part of February, 

 and lasts, depending somewhat on the temperature and the weather, into 

 March and April, sometimes even into May. 



In South Germany the spawning time is later than in -Prussia, while in 

 Ireland and Sweden, it appears to be earlier. In Norway, • according to 

 Lloyd, there are three successive spawnings, which corresj^ond to the 

 disapi)earance of the winter ice, the pairing of tlie frogs, and tlic unfolding 



