216 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



with a translucent jelly, embedded in wliicli were mill- 

 ions of what I took to be insects' eggs. Thej certainly 

 had that appearance. I was far more interested to find 

 that usually beneath each leaf of the water-shield there 

 was hiding a little pike. The largest was not two inches 

 in length. When disturbed they swam a few inches, 

 and seemed wholly " at sea " if there was not another 

 leaf near by to afford them shelter. They were remark- 

 ably tame or stupid, and I caught several with my hand- 

 net. One was far more obese than the others, so I sacri- 

 ficed him in the cause of science. In his stomach was 

 a minute cyprinoid, about one-half an inch in length, 

 which had been swallowed but a very short time. I 

 should have been glad to find a still smaller fish in the 

 stomach of the cyprinoid, but — I didn't. Xot many 

 years ago I did, however, find something more marvel- 

 lous than this would have been. I caught an unusually 

 large mud-minnow, which had swallowed a pike ; and in 

 the pike's stomach was a small mud-minnow, and in its 

 stomach were the remains of a ])ike. Four fish as one ! 

 This will do ; and were it not for the prejudice against 

 fish stories, I would beat this earlier record of my own 

 by narrating a more recent occurrence. 



While speaking of the pike, let me add the following 

 from a recent publication. It quite accords with my 

 own impressions about their intelligence, as compared 

 with other fishes — even the black bass. 



" There can be little doubt that the pike is decidedly 

 an exception to the rule that fish have little or no in- 

 telligence. Even the size of his brain is worthy of re- 

 spect. Its proportionate size as compared to the rest of 



