THB PIKB. 241 



eight or tea laches the first year, twelve or fourteen the second, and 

 eighteen or twenty inches the third; whilst Griffiths states that in 

 its first year it is often eleven or twelve inches long ; in the sixth 

 it has been known to measure six feet, and in the twelfth about 

 seven or eight. Still from what I have seen of the rate of the 

 growth of these fish in different waters it seems perfectly absurd to 

 lay down any fixed scale as to the rate of their growth or increase 

 of bulk within a given time, as it must with them, as it does with 

 trout and most other fishes, depend in a great measure on the nature 

 and extent of the waters they inhabit, and the kind of food they 

 are there supplied with ; and very probably, as is known to be the 

 case with the tench and carp, and the same is also believed with 

 respect to the trout, the progeny are inclined to grow large or small 

 in proportion to the parent stock from which the race is propagated. 

 Hence in first stocking waters with pike, fish of at least a respecta- 

 ble size should be selected as breeders, and when they have depo- 

 sited their spawn, the sooner the parent stock are removed, the 

 more likely will their offspring be to arrive at maturity. 



The precise time at which pikes were first introduced into this 

 country does not appear to be clearly ascertained. The assertion 

 that they were brought over in the same year with carp, hops, tur- 

 kies and beer, which we may see unauthorized stuck into Baker's 

 couplet, is wholly without foundation; for the period at which all 

 these good things is there stated to have been introduced is fixed 

 sometime or other in the reign of Henry the eighth; whereas it 

 appears that pikes were a marketable commodity even as far back 

 as the time of king Edward the first, though it was then so rare a 

 fish that it was fixed at a higher value than salmon, and more 

 than ten limes higher than that of the best turbot or cod. Pike 

 are also mentioned in the Act of the 6, Ric. 2, relating to the 

 forestalling of fish. They also formed part of the great feast given 

 by Nevil, archbishop of York, and are also mentioned by Dame 

 Juliana Berners, in the " Boke of St. Albans." Even as late as 

 the reign of Henry the eighth they were esteemed so dainty a 

 rarity, that a large one sold for double the price of a house lamb 

 in February, and a jack for more than a fine capon. But as 

 these fish became more plentiful, they were more lightly esteemed, 

 and at the present day they are not thought very highly of ; yet 

 upon the whole they eat agreeably enough, particularly when 

 stewed or baked in good sauce with a forcemeat pudding in the 



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