THE PIKE FAMILY. 187 



" Lucius obscurus ulva lacunas 

 Obsidet. Hie, nullos mensarum lectus ad usus, 

 Fumat fumosis olido nidore popinis." 



" The wary Luce, midst wrack and rushes hid, 

 The scourge and terror of the scaly brood, 

 Unknown at friendship's hospitable board, 

 Smokes midst the smoky tavern's coarsest food." 



The age to which the Pike will attain has been always 

 a debated point. Pennant mentions one ninety years old. 

 Pliny considered it as the longest-lived, and likely to reach 

 the greatest age, of any fresh-water fish ; while Sir Francis 

 Bacon, agreeing in this view, yet limited its probable max- 

 imum to forty years. 



There is no doubt that, in Persia, Pike are occasion- 

 ally taken of very great size, arguing a corresponding lon- 

 gevity ; and a Russian naturalist, with the euphonious name 

 of RZACZNSKI, alludes to one which was proved to have 

 survived to little short of centenarian honours. 



The famous story of the Pike with the brass ring round 

 its neck that was put into the Kaiserwag Lake by one of 

 the German Emperors, and there lived to the age of 267 

 years, is probably familiar to all, as it has been a staple 

 commodity with the book-writers and book-makers of 

 every generation since the sixteenth century. This is, I 

 think, about the place at which the great " Ring Story " 

 might be expected to make its appearance -which, how- 

 ever, it would certainly not have done, were it not that I 

 am enabled to present my readers with what I hope may 

 be considered as a not uninteresting addition to the goodly 



