474 
TUBE-BLADDERED GROUP. 
all the Russian rivers, with the exception of those of the Crimea and Trans¬ 
caucasia, and is likewise found in Siberia. In Lapland it extends even beyond 
the limits of the birch, while to the south it is common in the Venetian lagoons. 
Growing very rapidly, the pike not uncommonly attains a length of 45 or 46 
inches, with a weight of 35 or 36 lbs.; and although fishes of much larger 
dimensions are on record, the accounts of these must be received with great 
caution. It is pretty well ascertained that fish of 45 inches are not commonly 
more than about fifteen years old, and the stories of examples living for a century, 
or even more, appear to be legendary. Pike are among the most predaceous and 
greedy of all fresh-water fish, nothing coming amiss to their voracious appetites, 
since not only will they devour worms, leeches, frogs, trout, carp, and other fishes, 
but they pull under the young, and often even the adults, of all kinds of water- 
birds, and have no objection to an occasional water-vole. Their habit of lying 
like a log in the water (from which trait they probably derive their name), as well 
as the sudden rush they make after their prey, are well known to all; and the 
damage these fish do to trout-streams is almost incredible. Pike are also great 
devourers of the smaller members of their own kind. Frequenting alike ponds, lakes, 
and rivers, pike in Ireland spawn as early as February, but in England a month 
or two later, while in some parts of the Continent the season lasts till May. Males, 
which are inferior in size to their consorts, are said to be more numerous than the 
latter; and it is not uncommon for a female in spawning-time to be attended by 
three or four members of the opposite sex, who crowd around her as she lies quiet 
to deposit her eggs. 
The African Beaked Fish, —Family Mormyridje. 
The very remarkable fish (Mormyrus 'petersi) shown in the upper figure of 
the illustration on p. 475, is the best known African representative of a large 
genus of fresh-water fishes confined to Africa, and constituting not only a family 
but likewise a distinct section, to which Professor Cope applies the name of 
Scyphophori. Having the narrow parietal bones of the skull distinct both from 
one another and from the supraoccipital, these fishes are especially distinguished 
by having each of the pterotics (which lie on each side of the parietals) large, 
funnel-shaped, and enclosing a cavity expanding externally, and covered by a 
lid-like plate of bone. The anterior vertebras are simple and unmodified; and 
a subopercular bone is present in the gill-cover. Externally both the body 
and tail are covered with scales, but the head is naked, and the muzzle has no 
barbels. In the upper jaw the middle portion is formed by the united premaxillse, 
and the sides by the maxi Ike ; the gill-opening is reduced to a small slit; there 
are no false gills ; and the air-bladder is simple. A fatty fin is wanting; and 
whereas in the typical genus all the other fins are well developed, in the allied 
Gymnarchus (which is likewise exclusively African, and is sometimes regarded as 
the representative of a distinct family), the caudal, anal, and pelvic fins are want¬ 
ing, the tail tapering to a point, instead of terminating in a deeply forked fin. 
The beaked fishes are divided into groups according to the length of the dorsal 
fin and the form of the muzzle, the figured species belonging to a group in which 
