Stones found in the Stomachs of Pike. 241 
forming the lining, and others increasing in substance made 
up the interior, The eggs were four in number, rather 
smaller than those of the Great ‘Titmouse (Parus major) and 
less pointed, white, and sparingly marked with pale red irre- 
gular lines or scratches.” 
Nov. 26. 1829. S. Lak: 
Art. VII. Notice of Stones found in the Stomachs of Pike. By the 
Rev. W. T. Bree, M.A. 
Sir, 
I HAVE now in my possession, and herewith forward to you, 
a stone (fig. 42.) weighing 43 0z., taken out of the stomach of 
As a pike, which was 
caught by a friend 
of mine, while 
trolling in the 
Earl of Craven’s 
water at Coomb 
Abbey. The fish 
weighed — about 
33 Ibs., and being 
in good condition, 
did not appear to 
be incommoded 
by this internal in- 
cumbrance. The 
stone, I should observe, is not a concretion formed by acci- 
dent or disease, such as is sometimes found in the stomachs 
of cows, &c., but an ordinary pebble, of a somewhat flat rounded 
shape, and bearing the appearance of having been broken at 
some remote period on two of its sides. Since its fracture, 
however, the pebble has been well bouldered, so that it now 
presents no sharp projecting edges, nor any very considerable 
irregularity of surface. 
I recollect having formerly seen, at Packington Hall, the 
seat of the Earl of Aylesford, another pebble considerably 
larger (if my memory serves me) than the present one, which 
had also been found in the stomach of a pike caught near 
that residence. I have conversed on this subject with an in- 
telligent friend and a great fisherman, who assures me that 
several instances of the same kind have come under his own 
knowledge: one stone in particular, which he took himself 
out of the stomach of a pike, he kept as a curiosity for several 
years, and he describes it as having been full half as large as 
his fist or more. The fact, in short, of the existence of peb- 
