156 
PIKE. 
influence of which latter on the development of the smaller 
animals is well known. The young are produced in about 
thirty days, and their growth is rapid, but it is much slower 
as they advance in years, and yet without ceasing up to a 
considerable age; the full extent of which appears to exceed 
that of any other known inhabitant of the waters. 
Lord Bacon supposed this fish to live for about forty years, and 
it has been reported to have been known to reach a hundred; 
but even this lengthened date must yield to the account given 
by Gesner, who says that in the year 1497, a Pike was caught 
in a lake or pond near Hailbrun, in Suabia; and attached to 
its gill was found a brass ring, of which a small part was still 
bright and shining, and of which he gives a figure with the 
inscription engraved on it. This was in Greek, and a translation 
of it is, “I am the first fish that was placed in this pond by 
the hand of Frederik the Second, Governor of the World, on 
the 5th. of October, 1230;” from which, adds this writer, we 
conclude that this fish had reached the age of two hundred 
and sixty-seven years. From the size of the ring, as given in 
the before-named figure, it is to be supposed that when placed in 
the pond it was not a small fish; and if it had not then been 
caught, there appeared a likelihood of its continuing still to 
live on for a considerable time. The diameter of the ring 
exceeded three inches and a half, with a breadth at the border 
of one fourth of an inch ; and on its side was another ring one 
inch and five eighths in diameter, by which it appears to have 
been attached to the fish; while on the other side were fastened 
six round drops of metal as large as peas, each of which is 
fastened to the border of the principal ring by a short stem. 
No small amount of curiosity has been felt in reference to 
the fact that Pikes have sometimes been found in newly-made 
ponds, where it is not known that they can have been introduced 
by human hands; and very different opinions have been advanced 
to explain the circumstance. Gesner ascribes it to the stork, 
which he supposes to have devoured the spawn of the fish, 
which afterwards has passed through the body of the bird 
undigested, and has come to life after it has been discharged 
into the water. In a report of the Meeting of the British 
Association for 1845, we are told that the then Bishop (Stanley) 
of Norwich, P.L.S., related several facts which went to shew 
