184 
PIKE. 
lie thus asleep in the ditches near the Thames, in 
the month of May, and are at that time frequently 
haltered in a noose. In the shallow water of the 
Lincolnshire fens, they have a manner of catching 
them which we believe is peculiar to that county 
and the isle of Ceylon. The fishermen make use 
of what is called a crown net, which is no more 
than a hemispherical basket, open at top and bottom. 
The man stands at the end of one of the little fen- 
boats, and frequently puts his basket down to the 
bottom of the water, then poking a stick into it, 
discovers whether he has- any booty by the sti iking 
of the fish : vast numbers of pike are taken in this 
manner. 
The longevity of this fish is very remarkable, if 
we may credit the accounts given of it. Rzaczynski 
tells us of one that was ninety years old : but Gesner 
goes far beyond him, and relates, that in the year 
1497 a pike was taken near Hailbrun, in Swabia, 
with a brazen ring affixed to it, on which were these 
words in Greek characters : “ I am the fish which 
was first of all put into this lake by the governor of the 
universe, Frederick the Second, the fifth of October 
1230.” Mr. Pennant very properly observes, that 
the former must have been an infant to this Methu- 
salem of a fish. 
Pikes spawn in March or April, according to the 
coldness or warmth of the weather. They are com- 
mon in most of the lakes of Europe ; but the largest 
are those taken in Lapland, which, if we may credit 
