278 PERCOIDES. 



In the branchial membrane are seven rays, pec- 

 toral sixteen, ventral six, dorsal eight in the first, 

 and fourteen in the second, anal fifteen, and in the 

 caudal seventeen ; some of them in each fin ac- 

 cording to the size it would appear of the individ- 

 ual, are stiff or spinous. 



Three or four of the stripes reach the tail, — 

 the number not always being constant ; and the 

 remainder gradually disappear at different points 

 on the abdominal walls ; the eyes -are white, the 

 head strikes one as being long, and the under jaw, 

 as in the pike, juts beyond its fellow. Next to 

 the mackerel, this is decidedly the handsomest of 

 the native fishes. 



Basse, says the late distinguished De Witt Clin- 

 ton, is a Dutch word, signifying perch. The resem- 

 blance between the fishes in Lake Erie, and those 

 in the Atlantic is so striking, that they must be re- 

 ferred to a common origin. It cannot be true 

 that our inland fresh water seas were peopled with 

 aquatic beings when the deluge subsided. That 

 some of the lakes may have received inhabitants 

 in that way we should not attempt to deny ; but 

 that there has been no other mode of stocking 

 them is so unphilosophical, that it would greatly 

 embarrass a man to maintain an argument to that 

 effect. In this same Lake Erie are found the 

 rock-basse, and the white basse, a fac-simile of the 



