164 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
but this is conclusively disproved by abundant fossil and semi- 
fossil remains in the peat of the Fens. No doubt pike have 
been established by the agency of man in waters where they did 
not naturally exist, for the rapidity of their growth, as well as 
the large size to which they quickly attain, rendered them 
valuable to ecclesiastics and others when periodical fasting from 
flesh was the rule. In the present day, when they no longer 
furnish an important article of diet, the presence of pike must 
be considered an unmitigated evil, so vast is the havoc wrought 
by them among more valuable fish. 
Of old this fish was commonly known in English as the 
luce, which name came to us through the old French /us, from 
the Latin /ucius, and further it cannot be traced ; but this 
has been superseded by the term pike (a doublet of “ spike ”’), 
which refers to the general stiff sharp form of the creature. 
In Scotland and Northern England it is universally known as 
the gedd, a Scandinavian word signifying a “gad” or “ goad,” 
and therefore intended to convey precisely the same similitude 
as that of “ pike.” 
In appearance the pike resembles no other British fish. 
The head is peculiarly long, broad, and flattened ; the body 
is much elongated, the total length of the animal being about 
six times its greatest depth ; and the dorsal fin occupies a 
position right opposite the anal fin, and therefore far behind 
the centre of the body. The back, the sides, and the belly are 
all flattened, so as to give the body a quadrangular section. 
The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins, set together on the muscular 
tail, form a propelling apparatus of great power, enabling the 
fish to dart swiftly upon his prey, which his capacious and 
formidably-armed jaws are well designed to seize and hold. 
The eyes are large, set high in the middle of the head, 
separated from each other by a space only equal to the diameter 
of one of them. ‘The irides are yellow. The mouth opening 
extends nearly half the length of the head, the lower jaw 
projecting beyond the snout. The tooth armature is extensive 
