THE PIKE. 47 



magnificent work on Ichthyology, under the auspices of 

 the then King of Prussia as his authority for the marvel. 

 " In 1497, a person caught at Kaiserslautern, near Mann- 

 heim, a pike which was nineteen feet in length, and which 

 v/eighed three hundred and fifty pounds ! His skeleton was 

 preserved for a long time at Mannheim. He carried round 

 his neck a ring of gilded brass, which could enlarge itself 

 by springs, and which had been attached to him by order 

 of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, two hundred and 

 sixty-seven years before." Monsieur Pesson Maisonneuve 

 concludes the anecdote with this apposite and truly 

 pathetic explanation, "What a tremendous quantity of 

 animals more weak and feeble than himself, he must have 

 devoured, in order to nourish his enormous bulk, during 

 such a long series of years ! " 



This is certainly a very queer-looking story; but it does 

 not appear to be very intelligible on what grounds the 

 fishing-book makers presume to withhold the bigger and 

 better half of it. 



In March, if very warm, and in April, these fish leave 

 their accustomed deep and quiet haunts, and seek for 

 gulleys, creeks, broad ditches, and shallow reedy or pebbly 

 places, in order to deposit their spawn, which they leave 

 near the surface to be acted upon by the rays of the sun. 

 It is said, but perhaps without much truth, that when 

 thus obeying the impulses of nature, such is their lazy 

 and absorbed condition, that they may be taken by the 

 hand, much in the same way that trout are occasionally 

 tickled. 



During this period, they should never be molested nor 

 disturbed ; and indeed until this peculiar season is entirely 

 over, the pike is not worth catching. When in season, 

 he is a good, firm, and, cooked brown after the French 



