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." 



JVw. 26. 1829. S. T. P. 



A RT. VII. Notice of Stones found iii 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 (fg. 42.) weighing 4f oz., taken out of the stomach of 



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 

 3 J lbs., 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- 



