162 LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS. 



long, and receives several hepatic ducts before it empties into the intestine. The stomach is 

 oblong, large, extending through three fourths of the abdominal cavity ; its pyloric portion is very 

 short and thick, with the pyloric contraction evident from without. There are four large, but very 

 short, ctEcal appendages. The small intestine at first runs towards the diaphragm, and thence to the 

 posterior extremity of the stomach, whence it returns to the pylorus, to be again reflected, and ter- 

 minate in the large intestine, after making a short convolution behind the stomach. The spleen is 

 very large, almost round, and of a dark colour. The air-bladder is large, oblong, with its walls 

 very thick below and thin above. The kidneys are large before, smaller behind, and the ureters 

 open into a large bladder. 



Habits. This fish appears in the waters near Charleston in June, and remains 

 with us until September; its food would seem to be various species of smaller 

 fish, though portions of shells are sometimes found in its stomach, and it takes the 

 hook readily, when baited either with clams or shrimps. 



Geographical Distribution. The Black Perch inhabits the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States, from New York to Florida. 



General Eemarks. This fish bears so close a resemblance to the Lohotes 

 somnolentus of Cuvier and Valenciennes, as at first sight to lead one to regard it as 

 that species ; but a more minute examination proves it to be a difiierent animal, 

 the Lohotes Surinamensis of Bloch. These two species, although they are closely 

 allied and nearly alike in form, can yet be easily distinguished from each other : — 

 in the former, the serratures at the pre-opercle are strong and sepai'ated, those at 

 the angle are large, with their apices truncated, and the truncated margins are 

 serrated ; in the latter, the serratures of the pre-opercle are pointed, and those 

 at its angle are so long as to resemble spines ; — in the former, the scales of the 

 lateral line have many arborescent tubes ; in the latter, the tube is large and 

 single, or only bifurcates at the posterior fourth of the scale. 



The Black Perch was first described by Bloch, in his great work on Ichthyology, 

 from a specimen taken at Surinam, and it needs but a glance at his figure to be 

 convinced of the identity of his animal with ours, though the profile is not quite 



