THE body of this fish is a pale olive gray, deepest on the back, and marked on the sides by several yellowish spots or patches; the abdomen white, slightly spotted with black; its length is from four to eight feet. The flesh is white and firm, and considered very wholesome; the larger and older it is, the more it is esteemed. There is scarcely any fish of its size in the world, that in voracity can equal the Pike. It lives in rivers, lakes, and ponds; and in a confined piece of water it will soon destroy all other fish, as it generally does not feed upon any thing else, and often swallows one nearly as big as itself; for through its greediness in eating, it takes the head foremost, and so draws it in by little and little at a time, till it has absorbed the whole. I remember to have seen, in the stomach of a large Pike, a gudgeon of good size, the head of which had already received clear marks of the power of digestion, whilst the rest of the fish was still fresh and unimpaired.

"I have been assured (says Walton) by my friend

Mr. Seagrave, who keeps tame otters, that he has known a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of his otters for a carp that the otter had caught, and was then bringing out of the water."

Boulker, in his Art of Angling, says, that his father caught a Pike, which he presented to Lord Cholmondeley, that was an ell long, and weighed thirty-six pounds. His lordship directed it to be put into a canal in his garden, which at that time contained a great quantity of fish. Twelve months afterwards, the water was drawn off, and it was discovered that the Pike had devoured all the fish, except a large carp that weighed between nine or ten pounds; and even this had been bitten in several places. The Pike was again put in, and an entire fresh stock of fish for him to feed on all these he devoured in less than a year. Several times he was observed by workmen who were standing near, to draw ducks and other water-fowl under water. Crows were shot and thrown in, which he took in the presence of the men. From this time the slaughtermen had orders to feed him with the garbage of the slaughter-house; but being afterwards neglected, he died, as is supposed, from want of food.

In December 1765, a Pike was caught in the river Ouse, that weighed upwards of twenty-eight pounds, and was sold for a guinea. When it was opened, a watch with a black riband and two seals were found in its body. These, it was afterwards found, had belonged to a gentleman's servant, who had been drowned in the river about a month before.

It is a very long-lived fish. In the year 1497, a Pike was caught at Heilbrun in Swabia, to which was affixed a brazen ring, with the following words engraved on it in Greek characters: "I am the fish, which was first of all put into this lake, by the hands of the governor of the universe, Frederick the Second, the fifth of October, 1230."

SELDOM grows to any great size; yet we have an account of one which is said to have weighed nine pounds. The body is deep, the scales rough, the back arched, and the side lines placed near the back. For beauty of colours, the Perch vies with the gaudiest of the inhabitants of the ponds, lakes, and rivers; the back glows with the deep reflections of the brightest emeralds, divided by five broad stripes; the belly imitates the tints of the opal and mother of pearl; and the ruby hue of the fins completes an assemblage of colours most harmonious and elegant. It is a gregarious fish, and is caught in several rivers of this island; the flesh is firm, delicate, and much esteemed. They are generally boiled in wine or vinegar, which adds a considerable solidity and flavour to the flesh. It is generally believed that a pike will not attack a full grown Perch: he is deterred from so doing by the spiny fins of its back, which this fish always erects at the approach of an enemy. They are so voracious, that it is said, if an expert angler find a shoal of them, he may catch every one, If, however, a single fish escape that has felt the hook, all is over; this fish becomes so restless, as soon to occasion the whole shoal to leave the place.

HAS a great fame for the sweetness of its flesh, and appears often with great repute on our tables, when of moderate size, that is, when measuring about twelve inches between the eye and the beginning of the tail. The scales are large, with a golden gloss, upon a dark green ground. These fish grow sometimes to a great size, being then three or four feet in length, and contain a great quantity of fat. The soft roe of the Carp is esteemed a great delicacy among epicures. In the canals of Chantilly, formerly the seat of the Prince of Condé, Carps have been kept for above one hundred years, most of them appearing hoary through old age, and so tame, that they answered to their names when the keeper called them to be fed. This fish has very small teeth and a broad tongue; the tail is widely spread, as well as the fins, which are inclined to a reddish tint. Those that live in rivers and running streams are most approved, as those which inhabit pools and ponds have generally a muddy disagreeable taste. Though so cunning in general as to be called the River Fox, yet at spawning time they suffer themselves to be tickled and caught without attempting to escape. It is said that Carp were brought first to England about two hundred and fifty years ago. They are very tenacious of life, and when cut into quarters, the head being divided in two,

the pieces have often been seen to jump off the dresser table, and even out of the frying-pan into the fire, which circumstance has given birth to the proverb.

In genial spring, beneath the quivering shade,
Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead,
The patient fisher takes his silent stand
Intent, his angle trembling in his hand;
With looks unmoved he hopes the scaly breed,
And eyes the dancing cork and bending reed.
Our plenteous streams a various race supply,
The bright eyed perch with fins of Tyrian dye;
The silver eel in shining volumes roll'd,
The yellow Carp in scales bedropp'd with gold;
Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains;
And pikes, the tyrants of the watery plains.

POPE.

BELONGS to the elegant genus cyprinus; like the carp, it is remarkably tenacious of life. Its body is thick and short, and seldom exceeds ten or eleven inches in length. The irides are red; the back, dorsal, and ventral fins, dusky; the head, sides, and belly, of a greenish hue mixed with gold; and the tail very broad. Although they delight in still water, in the muddy parts of ponds, where, secure, as they suppose, from the voracious ramblings and dreadful proscriptions of the tyrant pike, and from the hook of the angler, they live nearly motionless, covered by the flags, reeds, and weeds that shade their place of retirement; this inac