104 SEA 



and particularly tasnias, of which not fewer than an 

 hundred have been seen in a single fish. 



The Pike is generally supposed to have been in- 

 troduced into England in the reign of King Henry 

 the eighth, and it is said that they were then so 

 rare that a Pike was sold for double the price of a 

 house-lamb in February, and a Pickrel or Jack for 

 more than a fat capon : yet as it occurs in the 

 famous inthronization feast of Archbishop Nevil in 

 the year 1466, it was probably known in our island 

 at a much earlier period. 



SEA PIKE. 



Esox Sphyraena. E. argcnteo-cccrulcscens dorso dipterygio,maxilla, 

 infcriore longiorc, pinnis infcrioribus rubcntibus. 



Silvery-blueish Pike, with two dorsal fins, lower jaw longer 

 than the upper, and lower fins reddish. 



Esox Sphyraena. E. dorso dipterygio, antica spinosa. Lin. Sysf. 

 Nat. p. 515. 



Esox pinnis dorsi duabus. Block, t. 33Q. 



Sphyraena. Salv. Aldr. mil. Jonst. SfC. fyc. 



Sea Pike, or Spit-Fish. Uiarlt. onomast.p. 136. 



THIS species in its general habit or appearance 

 is considerably allied to the common Pike, but is 

 of a silvery blueish colour, dusky on the back, and 

 slightly tinged with yellow on the head and about 

 the gills: the first dorsal fin is situated on the 

 middle of the back, and is furnished with only four 

 rays, which are all strong or spiny : the second, 

 which is placed opposite the anal fin, consists of 

 about ten rays, of which the first only is spiny : 



