PIKE. MORMYRID.E. SALMONID^E. 71 



perate countries. The common Pike is well known as being one 

 of the most voracious and destructive of all the smaller Fishes. 

 M. Jesse mentions that eight Pikes, of about 5 Ibs. weight each, 

 consumed nearly eight hundred Gudgeons in three weeks ; and 

 that one of these devoured five Roach, each about four inches in 

 length, within a quarter of an hour. The Pike not only makes 

 havoc among other Fish, but will devour frogs, water-rats, field- 

 mice, and the smaller aquatic birds ; and instances are on record 

 iu which it has even attacked Man. It grows rapidly, and often 

 attains a weight of thirty or forty pounds. It also appears to be 

 very long-lived, having been known to attain the age of ninety 

 years, and having in one instance (there is reason to believe) lived 

 to the patriarchal age of 267 years, and attained the enormous 

 length of nineteen feet. The MORMYRID^E, a small family nearly 

 allied to the Pikes, are distinguished from all the other bony 

 Fishes by the amalgamation of the intermaxillary bones. They 

 have the head covered with a thick naked skin, which closes the 

 opercula, with the exception of a small perpendicular slit. They 

 are found in the Nile and Senegal, and their flesh is said to be 

 excellent. 



634. In the SALMONID.E, or Salmons, all the rays of the first 

 dorsal fin are soft or jointed ; and the second dorsal is entirely 

 adipose, being merely a fold of skin inclosing fat. The species 

 of this family are at once distinguished from the SiluridsE, in 

 which an adipose fin sometimes occurs, by having the body co- 

 vered with scales ; they are generally very muscular, and pos- 

 sessed of great strength ; and they are voracious in their habits, 

 feeding rather upon Insects, small Crustacea, &c., than upon 

 other Fishes, The different subdivisions of the group vary con- 

 siderably in regard to the position of the fins, and the degree in 

 which the mouth is armed with teeth. Most of them frequent 

 the estuaries of rivers, and ascend the stream at regular periods 

 to deposit their spawn in its higher parts ; and it has been ascer- 

 tained that the same fish and their descendants resort in suc- 

 cessive years to one particular locality. Nearly all the members 

 of the family are clouded with transverse dusky patches when 

 very young, and undergo considerable changes in their livery 



