130 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



breed, and must, by me, be left to the disquisitions of men of 

 more leisure and of greater abilities than I profess myself to 

 have.* 



And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your promised patience 

 as to tell you, that the Trout, or Salmon, being in season, have, 

 at their first taking out of the water, (which continues during 

 life,) their bodies adorned, the one with such red spots, and the 

 other with such black or blackish spots, as give them such an 

 addition of natural beauty, as I think was n'ever given to any 

 woman by the artificial paint or patches in which they so much, 

 pride themselves in this age. And so I shall leave them both ; 

 and proceed to some observations on the Pike. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUCE, OR PIKE, WITH DIRECTIONS HOMT 

 TO FISH FOR HIM. 



THE PIKE Esox Lndus LINNJWS. 



Piscator. THE mighty Luce, or Pike, is taken to be the tyrant, 

 as the Salmon is the king, of the fresh waters. It is 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.t But, doubtless, divers Pikes are bred after this 

 manner, or are brought into some ponds some such other ways 

 as are past man's finding out, of which we have daily testimonies. 



* It does not appear to me that Walton lind much, if any, personal 

 experience in Salmon angling, particularly with the fly, which is undoubt- 

 edly by far the best sport of this kind. J. R 



f It'is surely not needful here to tell the reader that this is unfounded 

 fancy ; yet have similar doctrines of spontaneous generation been main- 

 tained in our times by such men as Lamarck, Baron Cuvier, and Blumen- 

 bach. 1 once asked a disciple of the school, if he thought an Elephant could 

 be so produced ? " No," he said. ' A mite, then i"' he hesitated, but 

 thought it might J. R. 



