SUPPLEMENT ON ACANTHOPTERYGII. 271 



and the jaws, the front of the vomer, and nearly always the 

 palatine, furnished with teeth. 



The common perch ( Perca Jt hivialilis) , the type of the first 

 genus of this family is known to most persons, either for the 

 amusement it affords while alive, or the savoury quality of 

 it as food when dead ; like most, however, of the commonest 

 objects of nature, its history, organization, and habits, arrest 

 the attention only of the inquisitive few. 



A general description of this common fish maybe needless, 

 but we may observe with reference to such points of its struc- 

 ture as are less obvious than others, that the whole series of 

 teeth are small and pointed, as well those of the jaws as of 

 the palate and gullet ; the tongue is smooth ; there are two 

 orifices to each nostril, surrounded with three or four large 

 pores, destined apparently to give vent to a viscous secretion ; 

 the preoperculum is denticulated and prickled ; the operculum 

 terminates in a sharp process, covered with little scales less 

 adherent than those of the body and tail ; the first dorsal fin 

 is longer than the second. 



The perch is found throughout nearly the whole of Europe, 

 especially toward the sources of the greater rivers, and in the 

 lakes ; but it is in Russia, particularly the rivers and lakes of 

 Siberia, that if most abounds, and attains the largest size ; 

 the perch of Southern Europe seldom exceeds two feet in 

 length, and four or five pounds in weight ; but in Russia and 

 the north generally, they grow much larger ; one is said to 

 have been caught in the Serpentine river, in Hyde Park, 

 which weighed nine pounds ; and Bloch states that the head 

 of one is preserved in a Church of Lapland, about a foot in 

 length. 



The perch swims with great rapidity, and as well as the 

 pike, generally near the surface. The female lays her spawn 

 when three years of age, in the spring, and it is said that she 



