ACANTHOPTERYGII. 273 



have a deformed flexure of the spine, giving the fish a hump 

 on the back. These Linnaeus found in Sweden, and Pennant 

 in some of the waters of Merionethshire, which abound also 

 with ordinary perch ; they must be considered, therefore, 

 rather as an established variety than as morbid individuals. 

 Nilsson, (Prod. Ichth. Scan.) speaks of them under the title 

 Varietas gibba. 



The Basse, P. labrax, of Lin., Labrax lupus, Cuv., is found 

 on our coast, but much more abundantly in the Mediter- 

 ranean, and was well known and highly esteemed as a 

 delicacy by the ancients. It attains considerable size, and 

 sometimes weighs thirty pounds, and is extremely bold and 

 voracious ; whence its ancient name of the wolf, by which the 

 Romans designated it. In accordance with the conformity 

 of character and impulses with the structure of animals, a 

 conformity always the more apparent in proportion to the 

 extent of investigation, it has been observed, that the extraor- 

 dinary voracity of this fish is attributable to the great extent 

 of the stomach, and to the large size of the liver, and biliary 

 vessels. 



It generally inhabits the sea, but near to the mouths of 

 great rivers, which it seldom ascends, and deposits its spawn 

 near the shore. Pliny and Ovid have celebrated the voracity 

 and the culinary excellence of this fish. 



The Variole, Perca nilotica, of hm.,Lates niloticus, of Cuv., 

 is the largest of the fish inhabitants of the celebrated Nile ; 

 and if we can credit the statement of Paul Lucas, has been 

 seen of the weight of 300 pounds. Individuals of a very large 

 size, however, are found only in Upper Egypt. It appears, 

 according to Geoffrey, to be the \arog of the Greeks, and 

 was sacred at Latopolis, where the use of it as food was for- 

 bidden. It is said also, on the authority of Gmelin, to be 

 found in the Caspian Sea ; but the slightest attention to his 

 description, and the figure which he gives, would have sufficed 



VOL. X. T 



