chaptee xv. 

 esocidjE, or pikes. 



TP the Greeks were acquainted with, this common and 

 -*- widely distrihuted fish, they have certainly not left 

 the evidence of such knowledge in any notices which 

 have come down to us ; whether we should have been 

 wiser had more of their piscatory writings remained, can- 

 not be determined with certainty ; but it seems scarcely 

 probable that so striking a fish as the pike should have 

 escaped the notice of so careful an observer as Aristotle* 

 had it really been an inhabitant of the lakes and rivers 

 of ancient Greece; some, indeed, have conjectured that 

 the oxyrhynchus of the Nile (a creature mentioned by 

 ^lian, supposed to be sprung from the woimds of Osiris, 

 and held on that account in great respect by the Egyp- 

 tianst) was the true ancestor of the pike ; but as -Elian's 



* Of Aristotle, who was so intimately acquainted with fish in 

 particular, that it seemed doubtful whether he had obtained his 

 extraordinary knowledge of their habits from his innate genius 

 and powers of observation, or whether Nereus or Proteus might 

 not have risen from the depths expressly to reveal it to him : 

 Tov ApuTTOTeXovs TeQavfuiKa T^s dxptfifias, ttotc fiadav ^ napa rivos 

 avfk66vTOS in TOV fivSov npareios rj Nrjpfcos tL ttoiovitiv oZ ix6ves 

 rj iras KOifiSiVTai, fj ttcos hiairaivTai. (Ath.) 



t So great is the reverence entertained by the Nile boatmen 

 for this oxyrhynchus, that if one be enclosed in their nets it is im- 

 mediately liberated with aU care ; and sooner than keep such a 

 prisoner, the crew would wiUingly lose the whole draught of fish ; 

 TTponiiSxnv aOrjpiav, tj aXovroi ttjv p,aKi(TTa iv6r)piav. (jSJlian.) 



