140 LAKES AND RIVERS. 



Groundling {Colitis t&nia or Botia tania), which is 

 rare. 



The Pike family is the second in the order of 

 osseous fishes. The common Pike (Esox Indus) is 

 called by Sir Francis Bacon the longest-lived of 

 fresh-water fish. Mr. Buckland, in his History of 

 Fishes, mentions a picture which he has of a pike 

 which the Emperor Frederick II. -put into the pond 

 on 5th of October, 1233, and which was caught 

 more than two hundred years after with a brass ring 

 on its gills, on which was engraved : " I am the fish 

 which Frederick II., the Emperor of the World, put 

 into the pond, the 5th of October, 1233." The 

 length of the fish was 4 feet 9 inches, and the ring 

 round its neck 10^ inches. However, Mr. Buckland 

 does not believe in this extraordinary longevity of the 



THE PIKE. 



Pike. We do not associate pleasant ideas with the 

 Pike, which is a ferocious, greedy fish, the enemy of 

 the weak and sickly or smaller inhabitants of the 

 streams or lakes where it lies. In the days of Henry 

 VIII., Pike was much esteemed as an article of diet ; 

 its value in the month of February was double that 

 of a house lamb. Pike are not much in demand for 

 the table at present. They are as prolific as almost 



