The Sunfish Family 57 



glad springtime of life ! And then, having laved 

 his swollen feet in the cooling stream, he washes 

 the blood and scales from his hands, scrapes the 

 mud and slime from his well-worn clothes, shoul- 

 ders his lance of elm, and starts for home, bearing 

 his trophies with as proud a mien as a warrior of 

 old returning with the spoils of war. 



THE SACRAMENTO PERCH 



(^Archoplites htterruptus) 



The Sacramento perch is closely allied in struc- 

 ture to the rock-bass, and is the only perchlike 

 fish in fresh water west of the Rocky Mountains. 

 It was collected by the Pacific Railroad Survey and 

 described and named interruptus by Girard, in 

 1854, owing to the interrupted character of the 

 vertical markings. It inhabits the Sacramento 

 and Joaquin rivers in California, and is much 

 esteemed as a food-fish, but unfortunately it is 

 being rapidly exterminated by the carp and cat- 

 fish that are said to infest its spawning grounds. 

 In its conformation it is almost identical with the 

 rock-bass, but differs in having more teeth on 

 the tongue and more gill-rakers. In coloration, 

 however, it differs very much, being sometimes 

 uniformly blackish or brassy, but usually the 



