176 BACKBONED ANIMALS. 
Pikes (Zsocide).—The pikes (Fig. 219) have long, 
depressed snouts, and with a single exception (Zsox /ucius) 
belong to the United States. The MMuskallonge of the 
Great Lakes attains a length of four feet. 
Fic. 219.—Pike (Zsox), 
Note.—All the family are voracious, often attacking ducks and even 
larger birds. They have been known to live over a hundred years, 
The pickerel is common in the various rivers and lakes of North 
America. A pike has been observed by an English naturalist to leap 
a foot out of water, and take a young bird from an overhanging limb. 
Flying-Fishes (Zxocatus).—The flying-fishes range’ 
from Cape Cod to Florida, and in many seas. The pec- 
toral fins are developed in a remarkable manner, so that 
they resemble wings. When the fish rises from the sea, 
the tail is worked vigorously, the wing-like pectorals vi- 
brate rapidly, and once clear of the water the fish soars 
away, with or without the movement of the fins, either in 
a straight line, or curving by a motion of the tail, often 
clearing a distance of a quarter of a mile (Fig. 223). 
Gar-Fishes (Belonide).—The gar-fishes have long, : 
slender bodies, the jaws narrow, pointed, and armed with 
extremely sharp teeth. They almost invariably lie at the 
surface. They are green above and silvery beneath. 
Nove.—They attain a length of two feet and over. In the’ Pacific 
they are of large size, and when alarmed leap away in a series of bounds 
out of water, and very often, according to Moseley, occasion the death- 
of natives wading about by accidentally striking them, the bill piercing 
the flesh like an arrow. The Hemirhamphus has only the lower jaw 
elongated, and is a light-bearer, having a gleaming, phosphorescent 
pustule at the tip of its tail. 
