256 Ayres'' Enumeration of the 



in the township of Brookhaven, sixtytwo miles from New 

 York. About a mile west of the village, a sheet of water 

 enters from the Sound, called Old Man's Harbor. This har- 

 bor and the parts of the Sound adjacent, have afforded most 

 of the marine species recorded. The fresh water species have 

 been derived from different places which will be found noted 

 in connection with the fishes. Enjoying the advantage of 

 gathering specimens in waters in the neighborhood of those 

 whose Ichthyology was illustrated by Dr. Mitchill, I believe 

 that I have been able to identify many of his species, inclu- 

 ding one or two in which, it appears tome, an error has been 

 committed, in the Report upon the Fishes of Massachusetts. 

 Such an error, from the looseness and inaccuracy of many of 

 Dr. Mitchill's descriptions, is very natural, and in certain cases 

 unavoidable. 



In the course of my researches, I have obtained several 

 species which appear to me as yet undescribed ; of these I 

 propose to offer descriptions and drawings. 



PeRCA FLAVE5CENS. Mitcll. 



In many of the fresh waters of the island, the Yellow Perch 

 is not uncommon. In one or two ponds, stocked with them 

 within a few years, they have increased very rapidly, and 

 have almost entirely destroyed the Trout, which before were 

 abundant. Corwin's Pond, near the centre of Brookhaven, 

 was supplied with the spawn of this species about four years 

 since. The pond is more than half a mile in length, a,nd pre- 

 viously contained no fish but Pickerel ; now Perch may be 

 taken of good size, in any part of it. The largest specimen 

 I have seen, was caught in the Ronckonkama pond ; it weigh- 

 ed about two and a half pounds. 



It appears to me that too great importance is attached, by 

 most naturalists, to the number of fin-rays, as constituting a 

 specific character. Cuvier even gives, as one of the few dis- 

 tinctions between the Perca graiiulata and P. fluviaiilis, a 

 ditTerence of one ray in the second dorsal. If this character 

 is ever constant, surely it will be in the present genus. I have 



