THE LIVING WORLD. 
95 
AFRICAN PIKE, FROM STANLEY’S FALLS. 
fish weighing fifty pounds have been taken; but four pounds is a more than 
average weight, and any one who has hooked a two and a half pounder has occa¬ 
sion to cherish the recollection both because of the grudging admiration of the 
professional fisherman, 
because of the struggle, 
and because of the rarity 
of the experience. The 
fish swim in schools, but 
the specimens caught by 
the writer must have 
been kept in while the 
others took their running. 
The blue-fish is found 
along the whole Atlantic 
coast, and likewise in the 
Gulf of Mexico; in Europe it seems to confine itself to the Mediterranean Sea. 
The blue-fish , like 
birds of passage, 
are migratory, 
starting north as 
early as March (the 
proper month for 
inaugurating new 
departures), and 
going south again 
in October. The 
blue fish is not a 
great favorite 
with those who 
would preserve at 
least specimens of 
the living species 
of fish, for it wages 
the most constant, 
relentless, and de¬ 
structive warfare 
upon every fish 
that comes • in its 
way, and seemingly is not content with gormandizing, but destroys fish with no 
higher motive than influences 
the most malicious small boy. 
As a food fish,the blue-fish is a 
great delicacy, but to the sports¬ 
man this is a small considera¬ 
tion in comparison with the 
healthful outdoor amusement 
which it provides, even when 
the sport is confined to the hunt¬ 
ing and the game-bag remains empty 
THE BAT, OR DEVIL FISH 
haimara ( Erythrinus trahira). 
The blue fish was unknown forty years 
