20 Fishes new to the British Fauna, 



the Channus, or Channa, of Gesner is unquestionably the 

 Channa of Ray {Si/n, Pise, p. 140.), it is the iabrus Channus 

 of Turton, though it possesses none of the characters of a 

 wrass. It must, therefore, be denominated Perca Channus. 



This fish {Jig, 6.) is about 10 in. long. Under jaw longest ; 

 teeth in both and in the palate, numerous, irregular, sharp, 

 incurved ; tongue small, loose. Eyes large, near the top of 

 the head. First plate of the gill covers serrate, the second 

 with two (in the female, one) obscure spines, scarcely to be 

 distinguished, except in form, from the scales with which the 

 gill covers and body are thickly and firmly covered, and which 

 are also ciliated. Seven rays in the gill membrane, curved, 

 the superior broad. Body compressed, deep ; the dorsal fin 

 commences opposite the ventral, ten sharp and fourteen soft 

 rays ; pectoral fin ending in a point, fifteen rays ; ventrals with 

 six rays ; anal with two pointed and seven soft rays ; caudal 

 fin slightly curved, seventeen rays. Lateral line nearer the 

 back. Colour of the back brown, in some specimens having 

 distinct bars running round to the belly ; sides yellow, red- 

 dish or saffron-coloured, more faint below; two irregular 

 parallel whitish lines pass along the side from head to tail ; a 

 third, more imperfect, on the belly. On the gill plates are 

 several faintish blue stripes, running obliquely downward. 

 The fins are striped longitudinally with red and yellow, pec- 

 torals wholly yellow. 



I have suspected this to be the P. diagramma Lin., com- 

 paring his specific character with the description of that 

 species given by Gronovius ; but I feel some doubt, since the 

 latter is spot en of as inhabiting Indian rivers. Until this ob- 

 scurity was removed by discovering its name in Gesner's 

 Nomenclator Aquat. Anim., p. 2?., as noticed above, I had ven- 

 tured to name it P. inermis. It is the comber of our fishermen ; 

 but this name having been irrecoverably assigned to a species 

 of wrass, I am compelled to affix a name of my own invention, 

 viz. smooth perch. It is a common fish, and keeps in the 

 neighbourhood of rocks, not far from land. It is singular 

 that the spasm which seizes this fish, when taken, never passes 



