AND OF STILL WATERS. 29 



into ponds, yet they have there found many } 

 . . . 'tis not to be doubted but that they are 

 bred, some by generation and some not, as 

 namely of a weed called pickerel-weed unless 

 learned Gesner be much mistaken ; for he says 

 this weed and other glutinous matter, with the 

 help of the sun's heat, in some particular months 

 and some ponds apted for it by nature, do 

 become pikes." The " glutinous matter," which 

 the reverend angler wisely mentions, probably 

 represented the spawn of some stray pike, for 

 these fish are particularly fond of lying in beds 

 of pickerel-weed, and depositing their spawn 

 therein. 



Pike have a curious instinct which sometimes 

 causes them to embark on land-journeys in 

 search of food. Mr. Newnham, an English 

 resident at Antwerp, in order to test this theory 

 of migration, made two new ponds, and stocked 

 one with pike and the other with small fresh- 

 water fish, such as dace, roach, and barbel. 

 After two days he had both ponds emptied, 

 when it was discovered that many of the pike 

 had travelled by some means or other from 



