16 
E S 
1+97. On it were infcribed thefe words in Greek charac¬ 
ters : “ I am the fifh that was firft of all put into this lake 
by the hands of the governor of the univerfe, Frederic 
II. (Barbarolfa) on the 5th of October, 1230.” Accord¬ 
ing to this account, the fifh mult have been no lefs than 
267 years of age, a fa< 5 t too extraordinary to be received 
on the evidence adduced for it. 
The generation of the pike, from its being found in 
ponds where none were ever introduced, has been fup- 
pofed as extraordinary as its longevity. Nothing, how¬ 
ever, feems more eafy than to account for thefe faffs, on 
the well known principles of the generation of fiflies : if 
a heron hath devoured their ova, and afterwards excreted 
them while fifhing on one of thefe ponds, it is highly 
probable, that they may be produced from this original, 
in the fame way that the feeds of plants are known to be 
dilfeminated. When the female pike is about to fpawn, 
fhe is faid to withdraw as much as poflible from the com¬ 
mon haunts of thefe fiflies, that the may conceal her brood 
from the depredations of the reft, it being a well-known 
faff, that the male of many fpecies purfues the female 
when about to depofit her ova, and on the firft oppor¬ 
tunity devours them. It is only when in feafon that their 
flefti is eatable : it is then white, .firm, and palatable 
food. Gefner relates a mod extraordinary method of ex- 
pofing them to fale formerly in England, which feems as 
little entitled to credit as his account of their longevity. 
He heard, he alleges, from an eye-witnefs, that the animal’s 
bread was cut up about two inches, to fliew its degree ot 
fatnefs, and if no purchafer offered, the wound was in- 
ffantly lowed up, and thefilh again committed to the pond, 
where, by being rubbed with the glutinous matter on the 
body of the tench, it was foon cured. 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 cherts Willughby declares lie has frequently 
jfeen in a river near Canterbury. The feafon of generation 
among the pikes is in March or April, according to the 
warmth of the weather : their fertility is extraordinary; 
348,000 ova being taken from a (ingle fifh caught in the 
Rhine, which did not weigh above nine pounds. This 
fpecies of fifh is common in the lakes, rivers, and ponds, 
over the whole of the north of Europe : it is, however, 
mod; numerous in Lapland, where pikes are faid to be 
taken fometimes eight feet in length ; and their exporta¬ 
tion for fale forms a confiderable article of commerce. 
The pike abounds in mod of the lakes and rivers of Bri¬ 
tain, and in ftich numbers as renders the common account 
of this fifh being firft introduced into England in the 
reign of Henry VIII. extremely improbable. 
Of all fifh, perhaps, the pike is the'quickeft in growth. 
The fil'd year it becomes eight or ten inches long; the 
fecond, twelve or fourteen ; and the third, eighteen or 
twenty. According to the obfervations of Hederdroms, 
a pike of fix years old fliould be an ell and a half long; 
one of twelve years, two ells ; and it grows to the length 
of upwards of eight feet ; and there are fometimes left 
dead on the flioresof the lake Arandum in Germany, pikes 
bigger than a man: as this lake abounds with irregulari¬ 
ties and unevennefles, thefe pikes hide themfelves in the 
hollows; and, if one of them is caught in a net, he 
breaks it and efcapes. Willughby fpeaks of a pike that 
weighed 32lbs. and qf another 43, fiflied up in 1752 at 
Mortzburg near Drefden. Dr. Brand fawone himfelffeven 
feet long, which was caught on his eftate at Zefen, near 
Berlin ; and in the cabinet of counfellor Eltefter was 
the fkeleton of a pike whofe jaws were ten inches wide. 
But the larged pikes are found in Rudia in the Volga. 
They are caught indeed in all the rivers and lakes of that 
kingdom : they catch confiderable quantities at Stepper 
in the fummer ; they clean them out, dry them in the 
air, and pile them up in the fame manner ready for fale 
or exportation. Pliny reckons the pike among thofe fifh 
which may attain the weight of 1000 pounds. In 1497, 
they took one at Kayferflautern, in the Palatinate,nineteen 
feet long, and weighing 35olbs. there is a drawing of it 
O X. 
preferved in the cadle of Lautei'n, and the (keleton is at 
Manheim. In Germany, as well as in Lapland, they 
I’moke and fait the pike for exportation. The following 
is'the procefs : after being gutted and well cleaned, they 
are cut into pieces, covered with fait, and put into tubs; 
fuch as are to be dried and fmoked mud remain three days 
in the brine after being prepared as above. There is a 
great trade in this commodity at Frankfort on the Oder ; 
they are caught in the Oder, the Var, and even in Saxony 
and Lufatia, to be falted and lent into Poland and other 
catholic countries. 
M. Kohlbrunnen, in his Materials for the Hiftory of 
Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate, fpeaks of an epidemic 
difeafe among pikes. Dr. Shaspf remarks that the pike 
of America is not fo large as that of Europe, but fatter. 
According to Falck, the pike is found in ail thofe lakes 
of Rudia and Siberia which in fummer do not contain 
more than a drachm of fait in noz. of water. In the 
countries of the Barabinzes, the Iflchimfches, and the 
Ifettifches, they catch a prodigious quantity in the fum¬ 
mer ; and, having gutted and falted them, they hang 
them to dry in the air; fometimes they are left in heaps, 
out in the air, till they are fold. On the banks of the 
Volga, Pallas fays they make caviare of the eggs, but not 
fo good as that made from the fpawn of the fturgeon, for, 
on account of the great quantity of vifeous matter that 
dicks to it, they are obliged to wadi it in hot water. 
The gullet and domachare purfed up in large wrinkles 
or folds, of a pale colour in the former and red in the 
latter ; they areeafily known by the flelhy fibres which go 
along and acrofs : the pliability of thefe folds enables the 
animal to void any thing he has fwallowed ; which fa¬ 
culty, we know no other firti to poflefs except the cod 
and ftiark. The ftomach reaches half the length of the 
body ; the inteftinal canal has but one finuofity ; a foli- 
tary worm breeds therein, of which fifty, or even a hun¬ 
dred, complete ones have been taken out of a pike of 
three pounds weight. The heart is an oblong fquare, on 
which is the auricula cordis, and above, the arterial fac. 
The liver, which lies on the left fide, is long, and with, 
out any divifion. The gall-bladder is large, the gall yel¬ 
low ; the fpleen is fmall and fquare ; the kidneys lie 
along the fpine of the back, and the bladder is near the 
orifice of the navel. The air-bladder is Angle ; but the 
feed-velfel is double, as well as the ovary : the ova are 
about the fize of a grain of millet. The vertebrae are 61 ; 
the ribs, 30 on each fide. 
The North American variety is regarded by Cepede 
as a diftindt fpecies, and not without reafon ; for the num¬ 
ber of rays in the fins differs, and the upper jaw is fhorter 
in prpportian than that of the European kind. It has in 
the membrane of the gills but 12 rays, in the dorfal 
fin 15 or x6, in the pedtorals 13, ventrals 8, anal 14, 
tail 20. 
15. Efox belone, the gar-pike, or fea-needle. Twa. 
long jaws ending in a fliarp point, the upper longer than 
the lower, are the diftinguilhing marks of this fpecies. 
Thefe jaws are round, and furniftied with black teeth, 
which (hut into each other, and look like a law, the 
mouth opens quite to the eyes. There are 14 rays in the 
membrane of the gills ; 13 in the pedtoral fins, 7 in the 
ventrals, 23 in the anal and tail, and 20 in the dorfal.— 
The head is fmall in itfelf, if confidered without refer¬ 
ence to the length of the fnout. The eyes are large and 
round; black pupil, filvery iris. The coverings of the 
gills are filvery, varying to blue and green. The front 
and nape are black, as well as the back. The notlrils are 
round, and ftand near the eyes. The body is narrow, 
long, and almoft fquare ; its length is fifteen times its 
breadth : this narrow long figure, which is uncommon 
among fealed fifh, caufed the ancients to caH -it an eel. 
The lides are green above, inclining ft> blue ; half-way 
down they are covered with long tender feales; below, 
they are fmooth, as is the belly ; and of a fhining filver 
colour. The pleafing mixture of colours in this filh, and 
the curious Terpentine motions it makes, are an agreeable 
fight. 
