376 FISHES. 



5 lbs. The female deposits her ova, united together by a 

 viscid matter, in lengthened or net-shaped bands, on water- 

 plants. The number of the eggs of one spawn may exceed a 



J^ig. 151. — Ferca liuviatilis, the Perch. 



million. Two other species, P. gracilis, from Canada, and P. 

 scliTcnchii, from Turkestan, have been distinguished, but they 

 are very imperfectly known. An allied genus is Siyiijierca, 

 from Northern China. 



Percichthys. — Differing from Perm especially in the number 

 of the fin-spines, which are nine or ten in the first dorsal, and 

 three in the anal fin. The upper surface of the head scaly. 



These fishes represent the Freshwater Perches of the 

 Northern Hemisphere in the fresh waters of the temperate 

 parts of South America. Two species have been described 

 from Patagonia, and one or two from Chili and Peru. 



Labrax. — All the teeth are villiform, without canines; teeth 

 on the palatine bones, vomer, and the tongue. Two dorsal fins, 

 the first with nine spines ; anal fin generally with three. Pra^- 

 operculum serrated, and with denticulations along its lower limb ; 

 prseorbital with the margin entire. Scales rather small. Branchi- 

 ostegals seven ; well developed pseudobranchite. 



The " Bass " are fishes common on the coasts of Europe 

 and the Atlantic coasts, and in the fresh waters of the United 

 States and Canada. The three European s^^ecies are almost 

 exclusively inhabitants of the sea, entering brackish, but 

 never fresh waters, whilst the American species, the number 



