the same length of time to absorb the umbilical sac of the fry. The fry when first hatched are extremely helpless, and are a prey apparently to every other living thing in the water. The ovaries of a thirty-nine and a half pound mascalonge weighed five pound, and one female of thirty-five pound yielded 265,000 eggs, although all her eggs were not obtained." The late Max V. J. Borne, the German fishculturist, says the pike in Germany goes under different names, such as the speckled pike, dappled pike, and pike-king; that a spawner of four pound or six pound gives about 100,000 eggs; that fry hatch out in from one to three weeks, according to the temperature, and have a very large umbilical sac. The late Mr. Frank Buckland mentions a twenty-four pound pike caught in 1879 at Eastwell Park, Kent, that contained 224,640 eggs, also another of twenty-eight pounds caught in 1869 in Loch Awe, Scotland, that contained twenty-one ounces of roe, the number of eggs being 292,320. Lambwaith (probably the present Lambeth) is the earliest place, and 1277 the year, where and when pike are first mentioned. Two years after they were found three successive times at the same place, and called "pickerel." They were also taken at Cherwell, Gosford, and Oxford. With one exception (Cambridge, 1342) all other pike were taken from the lower portion of the river Cherwell; they are mentioned in the Act of the sixth year of Richard II., 1382, and also by Chaucer in the well-known lines "Full many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe, And many a breme, and many a luce in stewe." From which early dates, we may infer, I think, that pike are indigenous. The pike is undoubtedly a fish of great antiquity, known to several Latin authors, who mention them as being caught of large size in the Tiber; but it is questionable whether the Esox of Pliny was of the same kind as the British species. The earliest date in which Lucius is mentioned in either poetry or prose was in the fourth century of the Christian era, when the poet Ausonius sang of him as 66 The wary Luce, 'midst wrack and rushes hid, Pike were highly esteemed on the table in this country during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and frequent mention of them occurs in the bills of fare of that period. "Luce salt," " pyke in harblet or herblade," "in latmer sauce," "in foyle," "in sharpe sauce," occur among the innumerable dishes served at the "inthronizations" of the Archbishop of York in 1467, and of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1504.1 Pike are monogamous, and by February have paired, so that after this month, where one is caught the other may very often be Habits captured; the female spawns in March of pike or early in April, depositing from 50,000 eggs-to 500,000 by a 32 lb. fish-on submerged rushes, sedges and sub-aqueous weeds, in shallow, quiet bays and ditches; the eggs, which are small, hatch in from eighteen to twenty-one days. The growth rate of pike no doubt varies according to the conditions under which they live: 1 Leland's Collectanea (edit. 1774), vol. vi. in stews and lakes where there is plenty of food, such as young carp, roach, bream and other fish, they increase rapidly in weight and size. H. C. Pennell one of the best living authorities, says, "The rate of growth of pike has been by different authors variously estimated at from 1 to 5 lbs. a year; but these estimates do not generally appear to be based on any very reliable grounds, still less upon actual experiment," &c.; "and experience leads me to believe that the growth-rate is susceptible of very great variation, depending upon the nature of the water and the amount of food supplied to the fish; but that in the open waters at least in England-it seldom averages more than 1 lb. a year during the first two years, and from 1 to 2 lbs. a year afterwards, decreasing again, after eight or nine years, to about the original ratio," &c. "On one point I have fully convinced myself, viz., that during the first year the maximum growth in open waters does not much exceed half a pound. The grounds of this conclusion are as follow:Pike spawn in March or April; in June, when pike-fishing commences, I have not unfrequently taken, and seen taken, with the net, small jack of about an ounce, or a little more, in weight; in September, again, I have constantly taken them of three or four ounces with a minnow; and in January and February, specimens of from five to seven ounces; whilst I have never within my memory caught the smaller-sized fish at the later periods, or vice versa; thus pointing clearly to the inference that at these seasons there were young jack of those respective sizes, and none others-in other words, that the different sizes represented the different stages of growth. These I believe to be the fish of about 3 lb., of the following season," 1 that is, "yearlings." Bloch, the eminent ichthyologist, says pike of three years' age are from 18 to 20 in. in length: and there are proofs on record that from this size they, if well supplied with food, will grow at the rate of 4 lbs. a year for six or seven successive years. "Piscator" (Practical Angler, p. 240) asserts the same, and gives as an instance a pond that held store-pike of 6 or 7 lbs., that was netted after an interval of seven years, when two pike were caught weighing 36 lbs. each. But, he says also, "from the result of my own. observations in the different waters I have fished, I am inclined to think that an annual increase of about 2 lbs. is nearer the usual average; and in small, hungry waters I am certain the growth is much less." To quote Dr. Badham on "the growth of pike," he says that, "under favourable circumstances, during the earlier portion of life, the increase in weight is occasionally at the rate of 4 lbs. per annum; after twelve years it diminishes probably to 1 or 2 lbs., and lessens still more as age advances;" and, vide Hofland, “If well supplied with food and suitable water, pike will increase in weight from 3 to 4 lbs. annually." A comparatively recent instance of rapid growth is mentioned by Frank Buckland in his Natural History of British Fishes, p. 154, viz., “In October, 1874, H.R.H. Prince Christian sent up Mr. Keene, the head fisherman of Windsor Park, with the most splendid pike I had ever beheld. Rapley Lake, Bagshot Park (a carp and tcnch preserve), had not been cleaned and the water run off for seventeen years, nor dragged for 1 The Sporting Fish of Great Britain. fifty years. Keene put in the nets, and brought out a number of carp, tench, &c.; and he thought, from the jump of something in the net, that he had caught an unusually large fish. When the net shoaled, he was delighted to find a monster pike in it; the fish darted between his legs and nearly upset him. This magnificent pike (I never saw one in more perfect condition) weighed 35 lbs.; length, 3 ft. 10 in.; girth, 2 ft. The eyes were exceedingly beautiful; the head shone like smoked mother-o'-pearl; every scale was perfect, and fins as red as those of a perch. Mr. Keene asked me what I thought the age of the fish; I guessed offhand from twelve to fifteen years, and it appears I was not far wrong; for, about twelve years before, Sir James Clarke's butler put six or eight jack, weighing about 1 lb. each, into Rapley Lake." The pike (a female) contained over 43,000 eggs; consequently-in October-was forward in spawn. From the above record, this fish appears to have increased from 1 lb. to 35 lbs. in twelve years. No doubt it was the excellent quality and quantity of the carp in this pike's larder that enabled her to grow large and lusty in so short a time, for, of course, she would not touch the tench, if Izaac Walton was correct in asserting that the pike forbears to devour him (ie. the tench) be he never so hungry;' or the Rev. J. J. Manley was right, when he says, in Notes on Fish and Fishing, p. 252, 'We may take it as a fact, that the omnivorous pike refuses under all circumstances to take tench as food.'' He suggests that this may be because tench swim lowest in the water, and out of sight of the pike, which, their eyes being on the top of the |