262 
ME PIKE. 
difieminated *. When the female pike is about to fpawfr, 
fhe is faid to withdraw as much as pofliblefrom the com- 
mon haunts of thefe fifties, that fhe may conceal her brood 
from the depredations of the reft, it being a well known 
faft, that the male of many fpecies purlues the female 
when about to depofit her ova, and on the firft oppor- 
tunity devours them. 
When the pike is in feafon, its colours are a very bril- 
liant mixture of green, with bright yellow fpots ; the 
gills are then of a vivid and full red ; when out of feafon, 
all thefe colours decay ; the green becomes gray, and the 
yellow fpots grow pale. It is only when in feafon that 
their fielb is eatable : it is then white, firm and palatable 
food. Gefner relates a mod extraordinary method of ex- 
poling them to fale in England, which feems as little en- 
titled to credit as his account of their longevity. He 
beard, he alleges, from an eye witnefs, that the animal’s 
bveaft was cut up about two inches, to ftiew its degree of 
fatnefs, and if no purchafer offered, the wound was in- 
flantly iowed up, and the fifli again committed to the pond, 
where, by being rubbed with the glutinous matter on the 
body of the tench, it was foon cured f. In fome parts 
of England the pike was formerly fed in fmall perforated 
boxes of wood, fixed by chains to the banks of the river. 
Such floating chells Willoughby declares he has frequent- 
ly feen in a river near Canterbury. 
The feafon of generation among the pikes is in March 
cr April , according to the heat of the weather : their 
fertility is extraordinary; an hundred and forty-eight 
r thoufantl 
* Wllough, ubi fupra. | Vide Qefcer spud Will. p. 238. 
