274 SUPPLEMENT ON 



to show that the fish to which he gave this name was in fact 

 a goby. 



In pursuing the various subdivisions of this family, founded 

 entirely on structure, it cannot be expected that many species 

 will occur, whose particular habits might demand attention, 

 especially when it is considered that the habits of few only of 

 these are known, and that very imperfectly. How vast a por- 

 tion of the economy of nature goes on totally unheeded by 

 us, and how much more of it proceeds absolutely hidden 

 from our most industrious researches ? We need not con- 

 template the depths of ocean alone as hiding from our view 

 a host of wonders and beauties, while the limited powers 

 of locomotion we possess, confine us in a great degree to a 

 commensurately limited view of things, even in the medium 

 which we inhabit. In running, therefore, through the list 

 of the present class, it is only an occasional species here and 

 there, which will afford what may be called a biographical 

 notice. 



The Pike-perch, Perca lucio-perca, Lin., Lucio-perca 

 sandra, Cuv., which attains the length of three or four feet, and 

 is sometimes found of the weight of twenty pounds in Northern 

 Europe, and Asia, and especially in the Danube, and the lakes 

 of Saxony. It generally remains at the bottom of the deepest 

 waters, seldom approaching the surface. Like the pike in 

 the shape of the body, but more like the perch in the arrange- 

 ment of the dorsal fins, the roughness of the scales, and the 

 indentations of the opercula, it has received a name (lucio- 

 perca l ) applicable to its partial similarity to these two 

 species. 



This fish is greatly prized, and the taking it is followed 

 very ardently in the north, either by nets or lines. It quickly 

 dies when taken from the water, and also, as it is said, when 



1 Esox Lucius, pike, and Perca fluviatilis, perch. 



