NOTES AND QUERIES. 483 
Mr. Couch refers as probably Hsox Brasiliensis, Linn., seems to be the 
young of this species.” On August 18th, 1837, Dr. Clarke, of Ipswich, 
transmitted to Mr. Yarrell a fish 5-8 in. long, and which is figured half the 
natural size in the ‘ Magazine of Natural History,’ 1837, p. 507, as Hemi- 
ramphus Europeus, Yarrell. Mr. Couch, in ‘ The Zoologist,’ 1848, p. 1978, 
redescribed this fish from examples secured in Mounts Bay in 1846, 
giving two figures, and at the same time remarked on what he supposed to 
be a new species, Hemiramphus obtusus, Couch, from a specimen half an 
inch long, captured in 1841, and of which he gave three delineations. In 
Yarrell’s ‘ British Fishes’ (8rd ed. 1859, vol. i. p. 472} it is observed, 
“These notices would lead us to believe that the Hemiramphus europeus is 
in truth the fry of the Belone, and that H. obtusus is an early stage in the 
growth of the young fish.” In the ‘ Catalogue of the Fishes of the British 
Museum,’ vol. vi. 1866, p. 254, not only are the above references to be 
found as the young of the Belone vulgaris or Garfish, but in the succeeding 
page Couch’s own specimen is recorded as among the exampies of this 
fish preserved in the National Collection. In Professor Liitken’s splendid 
‘Spolia Atlantica,’ 1880, p. 567, the development of this fish is traced 
from its fry to its more maturest age, and five figures are likewise given, 
showing the changes which occur when the head, including the beak, 
is only about 0°3 of an inch long, until it successively reaches 0°5, 1:0, 
1:9, and 2°8 inches. All these facts and references are to be found in my 
‘ British and Irish Fishes’ (vol. ii.), and at p. 149 a description is given of 
specimens from our south coast commencing under one inch in their 
entire length and continued up to those in which the length of the head 
only was 2°8 in. In plate 127 I have figured both the head of the young 
and the egg with its curious filaments; while for most of my specimens I 
must express my indebtedness to my excellent correspondent, Mr. Dunn, 
of Mevagissey, from whom Mr. Cornish has now received some similar 
examples. From their examination he does not appear to have arrived 
at any different conclusions from those already ascertained as well as 
recorded by previous writers.—FRanots Day (Kenilworth House, Pittville, 
Cheltenham). 
Pike and Water Vole. — On August 4th, the river being rather low, 
there was exposed, in many places where the banks are steep, a narrow 
ledge projecting a few inches beyond the face of the bank, which is usually 
above water. Along such a ledge on that day, a short distance below here, 
I saw a Water Vole running, when suddenly a large fish—I have little 
doubt it was a Pike, but cannot be certain—thrust its head right out of the 
water and grabbed at the rat, though it was some three inches clear of the 
water; the rat made a spring out of the way, and continued scuttling along 
the ledge until it reached the nearest hole. That a Pike should take a rat 
when in the water would be nothing out of the common, but an attempt to 
