200 THE ANGLER-NATUEALIST. 



was apparently unequal, and a fresh breeze springing up, 

 the submerged nautilus reappeared on the surface and 

 continued her voyage, but had hardly got fairly under way 

 when the Pike again dashed forward to the attack, seizing 

 her as before, and continuing every half-dozen yards the 

 process of alternately swallowing and ejecting, until she 

 grounded on the opposite bank. 



The best-authenticated instance of attempted man- 

 slaughter on the part of a Pike is one which occurred, 

 within a comparatively recent date, in Surrey. The par- 

 ticulars are given by Mr. Wright : 



" In the Reading Mercury "a statement appeared ' that 

 a lad aged fifteen, named Longhurst, had gone into Ingle- 

 mere Pond, near Ascot Heath, to bathe, and that, when he 

 had walked in to the depth of about 4 feet, a huge fish, sup- 

 posed to be a Pike, suddenly rose to the surface and seized 

 his arm. Finding himself resisted, however, he aban- 

 doned it, but still followed, and caught hold of the other 

 hand, which he bit very severely. The lad, clenching the 

 hand which had been first bitten, struck his assailant 

 a heavy blow on the head, when the fish swam away. 

 W. Barr Brown, Esq., surgeon, dressed seven wounds, two 

 of which were very deep, and which bled profusely/ 



" I wrote to this gentleman, who very politely obtained, 

 and sent this day, Sept. 18, 1857, the whole account, in 

 writing, from the young man's father (Mr. George Long- 

 hurst, of Sunning Hill), which I give as I received it : 



" ' Particulars of an Encounter with a Fish in the month 



