94 
THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
limb projecting over and near the surface of a stream. The pike is so vora¬ 
cious and so pugnacious that it is called the fresh-water shark. 
Saw Perch ( Serranus cabrilla ) is a Mediterranean species having a spinous 
dorsal fin, which is composed of from 
nine to twelve spines united. 
The Sea Devil, ( Malthe vesper- 
tilio) , or Bat-fish, is a creature some¬ 
what resembling the octopus, though 
its eight flat and broad arms are not 
provided with suckers. The illustra¬ 
tion on page 95 gives a better idea 
of its appearance than any printed 
description could do. 
A singular adventure connected with harpooning a sea devil is said to have 
occurred. Four men, occupying two small skiffs, were fishing for sea devils. The 
boats had separated and each was pursuing its course independently of the 
other, when suddenly they began to bear down upon each other with a rapidity 
altogether beyond the oar-craft of 
the human arm. By skill in steer¬ 
ing they managed to avoid a col¬ 
lision, but for quite a long while 
they would again and again ap¬ 
proach each other as though they 
were a pair of goats resolved upon 
each other’s destruction. It turned 
out that the crew in each boat had 
succeeded in fastening a harpoon into a colossal sea devil , and that in imi¬ 
tation of the whale they w r ere dragging the boats hither and thither in a 
manner which rendered the story of Neptune and his dolphin steeds much less 
a matter of fable. 
The Blue-Fish (. Pomatomus sal- 
tatrix ) is the object sought by ama¬ 
teur fishermen in Atlantic waters, and 
has probably been responsible for 
greater waste of time and more fre¬ 
quent “ drawing of the long bow ” 
than any other fish that swims the waters. Undoubtedly the professional guides 
act in perfectly good faith, and do not intentionally rob the eager sportsmen; 
still they have the most unhappy faculty of taking one into the midst of a 
school of dog-fish, or of com¬ 
pelling him to spend his 
weary hours in catching sea- 
robins, or find time and tide 
and weather unexpectedly 
nine-finned pike ( Polypterus bichir). against them. Other per¬ 
sons, if they are to be be¬ 
lieved, have no such misfortunes, but the writer, though occasionally circum¬ 
venting the fish (and the fisherman), is willing to confess that most frequently 
he has found only the proverbial fisherman’s luck. It is said that blue - 
pike (Esox Lucius). 
brook-trout (Salino fario). 
