LUCIOPEECA .SANDHA. 4<1 



scales at their bases. The sub-orbital ring* is small ; it reaches back behind 

 the broad jaws. 



The colour of the back is greenish-grey, passing into silvery-white towards 

 the belly ; brown clouded spots extend from the back down the sides, but 

 are only occasionally united into regular transverse bauds, though in the 

 young eight or nine such bands are commonly seen. The sides of the head 

 are marbled brown. Both dorsal fins have a grey ground, marked along 

 their length with blackish spots between the rays, which often form in 

 both fins five or more longitudinal bands, which are interrupted by the pale 

 colour of the rays. Similar spots ornament the tail-fin; the other fins have 

 a more or less pale yellow colour. 



The specimens of this fish from the Flatten See, in Hungary, and from 

 Gahcia, show, according to Heckel and Kner, six pretty long pyloric append- 

 ages. This number had been observed previously by Bloch, but Cuvier found 

 only four. Dr. Benecke, in North Germany, finds the pyloric appendages 

 vary from four to eight. The Pike- Perch grows to very nearly the size 

 of the Pike. It is often from three to four feet long, and weighs from 

 twenty-five to thirty pounds. In Russia its size is becoming smaller, owing 

 to the demand being greater than the supply. About 36,000,000 of these 

 fishes are exported from Astrakhan every year. This species is distributed over 

 a large part of Northern, Eastern, and Central Europe, both in lakes and 

 rivers. It is known, for example, from the Danube below Ulm, and 

 several of its tributaries, such as the Leitha, Salzach, Save, &c. ; it extends 

 southward into Lombardy. It is found in the Oder and Vistula, and along 

 the Baltic coast of Prussia, and is met with in the Haffs ; it also occurs in 

 the Elbe. It is spread over Sweden and Russia, but is absent from the 

 valleys of the Weser and Rhine, and from Switzerland and France. It is 

 comparatively rare in the lakes of South Germany, though found in the 

 Flatten See, Traun See, Atter See, Aramer See, and some others; but in 

 North Germany it is more frequently found in the lakes. 



This fish, commonly known in Sweden as Giis, in Germany as the 

 Zander, and in Austria as the Sander, or Sandel, prefers clear, deep-flowing 

 water, and generally remains at some depth. Its movements are heavy and 

 not graceful, and its inactive disposition has originated the Swedish saying, 

 " stupid as a Pike-Perch.''^ It lives chiefly on defenceless fishes, and prefers 

 young Smelts, but is extremely voracious, and will eat small Pike, and 

 even its own young, besides various invertebrata. It is not common in 

 turbid water or on clayey bottoms. It spawns between the end of April 

 and beginning of June, when it leaves the deep waters for shallow spots 

 overgrown with water-plants, termed marshes in Central Europe, upon which 



