PA RTS A N D LI N E A M E NT S OF A PIKE. 2 C 2 i 



discover a stone in the brain of a Pike much like a 

 chrystal ; Gesner himself, the great naturalist, testi- 

 fies that he found in the head of a little Pike, two white 

 stones. As to the shape of his head, his snout is long, 

 which some have compared to the beak of a goose. 

 His lower jaw is far longer than his upper: and in ifc 

 are placed many teeth orderly disposed in ranks : his 

 eyes are of a golden colour, and very quick-sighted, as 

 are all sorts of fish ; his belly is always white, but his 

 back and sides are of a black and speckled yellow ; his 

 ventricle is very large and capacious, and his throat 

 short, as we may see by his prey which he hath newly 

 taken and not digested ; part of it will come up in his 

 mouth; but this is when he seizes upon a great prize. 



An author affirms that he saw a Pike of that wonder- 

 ful bigness, that had another within him considerably 

 great, and that within had a water-rat in its belly; 

 so that the ventricle of the great one must be exceeding 

 large and extensive. Gesner likewise observes, that 

 his heart and gall are very medicinal to cure agues, 

 abate fevers, &c. and that his biting is venemous and 

 hard to be cured. 



CHAP. III. 



Of the Age and Growth of a Pike. 



As to the increase and vivacity of this devouring fish 

 some historians have asserted that he will live to an in- 

 credible age ; and that he will carry half as many years 

 as scales upon his back. Our fore-quoted author, 

 Gesner, relates in his Natural History, that a Pike 

 was taken out of a pond of the emperor Frederick, 

 that had lived upwards of 260 years, which appeared 

 by the date in a brass ring, which lay hidden and 

 grown over in his gills: it had this inscription written 

 in' Latin, Ego sum illi piscis huic Stag-no omnium 

 u 3 



