188 NOTES ON HSH AND FISHING. 



the Greek \v/co<; (luhos), "a wolf." And what better or 

 more significant title could the fish have ? He is, indeed, 

 the " wolf- fish." The title is an illustrious one. There was 

 a Eoman emperor, Lucius Verus, the " original " Lucius, 

 and long after him a Pope Lucius, whose character may- 

 be surmised from the following lines quoted by Dr. 

 Badham : — 



" Lucius est pisois, rex atque tyrannus aquarum, 

 A quo discordat Lucius iste parum." 



In English heraldry no fish was so early borne as the 

 pike ; it occurs in the arms of the Lucy, or Lucie, family 

 as far back as the reign of Henry II. 



Bat if "Lucius'''' is an etymological difficulty, "jack" 

 and " pike " are still more so. Of course, as Dr. Badham 

 says, it is suggested at once that the word " pike " is 

 derived from the French pique, and that the fish is so 

 called because his snout is sharp and pointed like a 

 " pike : " but really a pike's snout is not pointed like the 

 beard of Shakespeare's " piked man," but " broad, patu- 

 lous, and anserine." The French names are easier of ex- 

 planation ; brocket is evidently derived from the spit-like 

 shape of the body; lance, lanceron from the speed with 

 which a jack hurls himself on his prey ; and becquet, as 

 suggested by his anserine or duck-like muzzle. Richard- 

 son, in his dictionary, says that the " pike " is so called 

 from the likeness of its nose to a pike or spear, or " be- 

 cause it moves itself in the water like a spear thrown ;" as, 

 in like manner, he says, "jack " is so called " from 

 ' jaculum/ because like a javelin in shape or motion." The 

 difficulty, I think, may be arranged on this wise : — the 

 muzzle of a jack is " broad, patulous, and anserine " when 



