453 



Apart from a peculiar little group o£ fishes known as darters {Etheostomatince), 

 the Peecid^ proper include only the common yellow perch {Ferca americana), 

 and the San dres, pike-perches or pickerels referred to above — two species forming 

 the genus Stizostedium. The darters have been little studied in Ontario ; they 

 may be described as dwarf perches which have taken to live in small and rapid 

 streams, and have acquired in accordance with their surroundings, the veiy char- 

 acteristic bright colouring, powerful fins, and rapid movements of the group. The 

 largest is Ethcostorna {Percina) caprodes, the log-perch, which may* measure six 

 inches or more, but the sand-darter, E. {Ammocrypta) j)ellucida, and other species 

 which occur in the Province, are rarely more than two or three inches in length. 

 Information with reo-ard to these minute forms would be of scientific interest. 



The yellow perch is a familiar fish, very similar in its habits to the European 

 perch. It is common in the shallow waters of the lakes, and finds its way in con- 

 siderable quantities into the market. It is of fair quality and occasionally weighs 

 as much as 1^ lb., but is not regarded as a valuable food-fish like the following. 



Two species of Sandres or pike-perches (so-called as they are carnivorous perch - 

 like fish, attaining the size of a pike) occur in North America, and are abundant 

 in the waters of the Province. They receive widely difierent names in different 

 localities. The more valuable food-fish of the two, which attains a length of 

 three feet, and a weight of 10 to 20 lb., is Stizostedium vitreum, and is commonly 

 known in the Province as the pickerel, (a name which should be reserved for the 

 lesser American pike, p. 451), or among the French as the Dore, from its prevail- 

 ing yellow colouration. It might be preferable to introduce for it the name 

 which Richardson employs in his Fauna Boreali Americana, the " Sandre," a name 

 which is also used for the European representatives of this group. 



The genus differs from Perca chiefiy in the shape of the body, which is elong- 

 ated instead of oblong, and in there being strong canine teeth on the jaws and pal- 

 atines. The second species, S. canadense, known as the " Sanger" in Lake Erie, is 

 much smaller, rarely exceeding fifteen inches in length, and has a rounder body. 

 It has four to seven instead of three pyloric coeca, and a distinctive black blotch 

 at the base of the pectorals, while the larger species has a similar blotch on the 

 hinder part of the spinous dorsal fin. The Sanger also has a rougher head, 

 smaller scales, and a greater number of spines on the gill-cover. 



The Pickerel or Sandre is undoubtedly one of the most valuable food-fish we 

 possess, and is only inferior economically to the Lake Trout on account of its 

 inferior numbers. It shares the habit of the other large lacustrine species in 

 retreating to the deep water in the heat of summer. It is, therefore, taken then 

 only in gill-nets ; but, when in shallow water, as for example in the spring when 

 it spawns, it not infrequently is taken in considerable numbers from the pounds. 

 In winter many are speared through the ice with the aid of a decoy fish. 



Further information is desirable with regard to the distribution in the 

 Province of the two species, as to their spawning habits, and as to the increase 

 or decrease in their numbers. The impression prevails in the lower lakes that the 

 Pickerel have increased of recent years, and this is attributed, in Lake Ontario, 

 to the introduction of ale wives into the lake.1 



To the family CENTRARCHiDiE belong the various species of Bass and Sun- 

 fish — species which, with the exception of the Black Bass, do not attain to any size, 

 but which are all regarded as excellent food-fish. From an economical point of 



