AMERICAN FISHES. 



that the proportion of males was as one to fifty. Von Siebold found one-third 

 males at Munich, and Manley in England one-tenth. It would be well 

 worth while for American anglers to continue these observations, as well 

 as to make some new counts of the number of eggs. The only reliable 

 recent enumerations appear to be those made by Buckland in 1868. He 

 found 127,240 eggs in a fish of 2 pounds 11 ounces, and 155,620 in one 

 of 3 pounds 2 ounces. Lacepede put the figure at 1,000,000, Bloch at 

 28,000, and Abbott at 8,000. ' 



The eggs are from 2 to 2^/3 mm. in diameter, or about as large as 

 poppy seeds. They are of the adhesive class, and cling together in 

 beautifully interlaced bands, like pearl necklaces, five or six feet long 

 and an inch or two in width. These glutinous masses adhere to twigs and 

 stones in shallow water, and are devoured by birds and all kinds of 

 aquatic animals. The eggs begin to expand soon after fertilization. At 

 a temperature of 59°, F. Malm hatched some eggs in four days and nine 

 hours; at the end of a week or ten days after the eggs were laid, Abbott 

 frequently found minute Yellow Perch, associated with little Sun-fish, 

 tangled in among the water plants, active as their strength permitted, and 

 darting voraciously at almost invisible specks, that seemed to serve them 

 for food. The little perchettcs grow very fast, and in a year or two they 

 have reached maturity. Edward Jesse observed a fish three inches long 

 which was full of spawn. 



Perch rarely exceed a pound or two in weight. " Une Perche de deux 

 kilogrammes est un phenix tres-rare," says De la Blanchere. Some large 

 ones are on record. An individual taken in Delaware Bay, by Abbott, 

 weighed four and one-quarter pounds. In England three-pounders are 

 thought large ; but Pennant mentions one of nine pounds, taken in the 

 Serpentine in Hyde Park. Giinther puts the limit at four pounds, but 

 Seeley states that in Russia, in Lake Seligher they reach eight pounds. 



The artificial propagation of the Perch w^as accomplished as early as 

 1856 by Malm, a Swedish naturalist, and is said to have beeen repeated 

 in this country. Many ponds have been stocked with grown fish, 

 Dr. S. L. Mitchill transplanted them from Ronkonkoma Pond in Suffolk 

 County to Success Pond in Queens County, N. Y. The species is very 

 properly excluded from waters in which trout and carp are to be cultivated. 

 It is said that poachers often revenge their grievances by stocking trout 

 ponds with Perch. They have been known to deposit their eggs in 

 aquarium tanks, where, with care, they will doubtless hatch their young. 



