140 BRITISH FRESHWATER FISHES 



on the sides ; the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are 

 olive-green, with blackish spots or stripes. 



The size attained by the Pike in our islands has 

 been the subject of a good deal of controversy, and 

 according to one authority " more lies have been 

 told about the Pike than about any other fish in 

 the world." Well-authenticated instances of the 

 capture of Pike of from 35 to 45 Ibs. weight are 

 plentiful, and there are many tales of much larger 

 fish, which may be true enough, but unfortunately 

 cannot be verified. Ireland has always been 

 celebrated for the size of its Pike, and a story is 

 told with plenty of circumstantial detail of the 

 capture of one of more than 90 Ibs. weight in the 

 Shannon about a century ago. Thompson says : 

 " The Rev. C. Mayne, writing from Killaloe in 

 1838, gave me the names of two gentlemen who 

 killed Pikes of 49 and 5 1 Ibs. weight in that 

 locality, and also informed me that in August, 

 1830, Mr. O'Flanagan (then aged seventy) killed 

 with a single rod and bait, in a lake in the County 

 Clare, a Pike of 78 Ibs." 



It is generally considered that the best-authen- 

 ticated record of a monster is that of the famous 

 Kenmure Pike, taken towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century in Loch Ken by John Murray, 

 gamekeeper to Viscount Kenmure. As the captor 

 bore it along to his master, with the head over his 

 shoulder, the tail swept the ground. According to 

 the Rev. W. B. Daniel (Rural Sports, 1801-1813) 

 this fish weighed 72 Ibs., and was caught with a 

 fly made of a peacock's feather. Another author, 

 Dr. Grierson, published some " Mineralogical Observa- 

 tions in Galloway," in the Annals of Philosophy for 



