THE JACK. ]91 



marriage, and hoping that these jack who were so lovely 

 but unhappy in their lives, and whose stuffed skins still 

 make them look lifelike in glass cases, are happily swim- 

 ming Elysian lakes in another and better world of waters, 

 I will make a few jottings as to the growth of jack from 

 their babyhood and the size they attain. The authorities 

 tell us that a baby jack grows to the length of 8 in. or 

 10 in. in his first year; that he increases by 12 in. to 14in. 

 in his second, and by 18 in. to 20 in. in his third, or, to 

 put it in another way, that a jack increases in weight at 

 the rate of 4 lbs. per annum during the earlier portion of 

 his life ; but that after twelve years he diminishes each 

 year by lib. to 21bs., and lessens still more as age ad- 

 vances. These calculations are all very well in their way, 

 but only approximately true ; for a jack's growth depends 

 on a variety of circumstances — such as the extent and 

 quality of the water he lives in, the number of his fellows 

 that tenant it jointly with him, and the supply of food ; and 

 I am also inclined to think partly on the infusion of " fresh 

 blood" into a race inhabiting any particular water. To 

 the want of fresh blood I am disposed to attribute the fact 

 that even in such a magnificent lake as Virginia Water 

 the average of jack run very small. I once put half a 

 dozen jack, of about 31bs. each, into a garden pond with 

 clay bottom and containing but little food for them. In 

 five years I could see no perceptible increase in these jack. 

 As to the size a jack may attain it is difficult to speak. 

 There are several historical pike of prodigious dimensions ; 

 for instance, the well-known giant captured in 1497 a.d. 

 in the vicinity of Manheim, which, like the story of 

 Anthony and Cleopatra's fishing, is supposed to be men- 

 tioned in every book on angling. To one of the gills of this 



