THE PERCH 223 



the jaws and on the palate ; the opercle ends in 

 a sharp spine. There are two dorsal fins, a longer 

 anterior one formed of from fourteen to sixteen 

 spines, and a shorter posterior one with two spines 

 and thirteen to fifteen soft rays ; the anal has two 

 spines and eight to ten branched rays ; the caudal 

 is emarginate ; each pelvic fin consists of a strong 

 spine and five branched rays ; they are inserted close 

 together a little behind the vertical through the 

 base of the pectoral. 



The colour of the back and sides is greenish 

 olive, shading below into a golden yellow, whilst 

 the belly is white ; on the sides appear five or more 

 dark vertical bars, which are sometimes bifurcated 

 above ; the spinous dorsal is greyish, with a black 

 spot behind, and the lower fins are reddish. Some- 

 times the bars are inconspicuous and the whole 

 fish appears almost uniformly dark greenish, 

 sometimes the deep black bars are in striking 

 contrast to the pale olive ground colour. 



The Perch is found all over Europe, except the 

 Iberian Peninsula, and in Transcaspia and through- 

 out Siberia. Two closely allied species represent 

 it in eastern North America and in Turkestan 

 respectively. In our islands it is generally dis- 

 tributed, except in the Northern Highlands of 

 Scotland. 



It does not usually attain a length of more than 

 1 8 inches, with a weight of 4 to 5 lbs., but much 

 larger specimens have occasionally been met with. I 

 have never caught one of these monsters, but my 

 angling experiences lead me to believe that there 

 is no reason to doubt the authenticity of records 

 of Perch of 6 and even 8 and i o lbs., captured in 

 17 



