148 WEAPONS OF PERCH. 



of dark green bronze, while the whole is shaded with a 

 lovely peacock iridescence. His fins are coloured with 

 a lovely tinge of red, such as we may sometimes see in 

 the glass of very old church windows, or occasionally 

 in Salviati's beautiful glass. Artists would do well to 

 study the colouring of the perch. They will not find 

 such brilliancy of colour or such a combination of tints 

 in any flower. 



Whoever has studied Bell's " Anatomy of Expression " 

 cannot fail to have observed the various emotions of 

 animals as represented by their physiognomy. Witness 

 the difference between the hair of the fox terrier, when 

 sniffing at a fox's earth, and when sitting up on his 

 hind legs begging a bit at his master's dinner-table. 

 Witness also the expression of the fox as he meditates 

 an attack on the coiled-up hedgehog so beautifully de- 

 scribed by the author of ** Comment I'E sprit vient aux 

 Betes" as follows : 



*' Une sorte de rictus relive sa levre, un sourire me- 

 phistophelique illumine sa face d'Escobar, et lui donne 

 une vague ressemblance avec ces satyres si fort en vogue 

 ches les enlumineurs du moyen age." 



As his tail is to be the index of the dog's mind, so 

 the armament of spines on the back of the perch may 

 be said to be the index of the perch's mind. When 

 quiet and enjoying himself, the perch sheathes, as it 

 were, his back fin — a case of '' slope swords ; " when, on 

 the contrary, he rushes forth from his concealment, 

 his bristles are all erect, as though he had heard the 

 quick, rattling word of command, '' Carry swords ! " 

 These perch spines are very sharp pointed, so sharp 

 that, as the French author has smartly put it, ''II fait 

 penser au chat." 



He is a carnivorous gentleman is the perch ; his hon 



