FAMILY PERCID.E — PERCA. 



To these we have ventured to add indications of three others. 



GENUS PERCA. 



Body oblong, subcornpressed. Ventrals beneath the pectorals. Gill membrane with seven 

 rays ; opercle spiny ; precpercle with the posterior and basal margins toothed. Scales 

 rough, not easily detached. Five soft rays to the ventral fins. Two dorsals, or so deeply 

 notched as to appear double. Teeth all minute, equal. Suborbital faintly serrated. 

 Tongue smooth. 



THE AMERICAN YELLOW PERCH. 



Perca flavescens. 

 plate i. fig 1. 



Morone jlavescens. Mitchill, Report on the Fishes of N. Y. 



Bodianus Jlavescens. Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. Vol. 1, p. 421. 



La Perche jaunatre d'Amerique. Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poissons, Vol. 2, p. 46. 



The American Perch. Richardson, Fauna Boreal. Amer. Vol. 3, p. 1, pi. 74. 



The Common Perch. Storer, Massachusetts Report, p. 5. 



The Yellow Perch. Kiktland, Report on Zoology of Ohio, p. 168 and 190. 



Characteristics. Sides yellow ; six to eight dark vertical bands over the back. Pectorals, 

 ventrals and anal, orange. Length 6-12 inches. 



Description. Body compressed, elongated, with a somewhat gibbous dorsal outline. Scales 

 small, adherent, ciliated on their free edges. Head above, and between the eyes, smooth. 

 Lateral line, a series of tubes concurrent with the line of the back. Head sub-depressed ; 

 and in the larger and older fish, the rostrum becomes more elongated, producing a concavity 

 in the facial outline. The first dorsal commences above the base of the pectorals. The 

 first ray much shorter than the second ; the fourth, fifth and sixth rays longest, thence gra- 

 dually diminishing to the last, which is very short. The space between the first and second 

 dorsals is about • 3 in extent. The second dorsal is composed of fifteen or sixteen rays ; 

 the first two short and spinous ; in many individuals, there is but one spinous ray. The 

 remaining rays are articulated, branched, very gradually subsiding from the anterior part. 

 Pectorals moderate ; posterior margin slightly rounded, and composed of fifteen articulated 



