196 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



The perch is said to be a slow grower, but this, we 

 think, must depend on locality and food. Mr. Manley 

 ("Fish and Fishing") says: "In answer to the question, 

 ' To what size will an English perch attain ? ' I answer 

 4 Ibs." But there are records of much greater weight. 

 Pennant mentions one taken in the Serpentine of 9 Ibs., 

 Colonel Montagu records one of 8 Ibs., and Mr. Jesse one 

 of 5 Ibs. 10 oz. One of 8 Ibs. was caught in Dagenham 

 Breach by Mr. Carter, as mentioned in Daniel's " British 

 Rural Sports." A perch, however, nowadays, of from 2 

 or 3 Ibs. is considered a very heavy fish. Those of the 

 river Kennet are particularly fine and large, taken both 

 at Hungerford and Newbury, and other localities. The 

 late Mr. Francis Francis records a day's perch-fishing at 

 Hungerford, where with a friend he basketed thirty-seven 

 perch, weighing 60 Ibs. 



Perch spawn in April and May, depositing the ova in 

 long riband-like bands on the leaves of water-plants, &c. 

 A writer in the Fishing Gazette says : " The development 

 of the embryo is very interesting, and is very rapid also. 

 Very soon it may be seen to move, and when this stage 

 is reached it is almost in constant motion, jerking itself 

 spasmodically, and this goes on until it finally bursts its 

 shell and is free. When about half incubated the eyes are 

 distinctly visible, and it is a curious sight to watch the 

 constant movement of a large number of embryos ; move 

 or shake them, and they at once become quiescent for 

 a time." It was supposed at one time that the perch was 

 hermaphrodite. Mr. Manley, /. c., says : " I believe our own 

 perch, if not every species of perch, is thus bisexual. It 

 is," he says, "a remarkable fact, or what seems to be a 

 fact, that nine out of every ten perch an angler takes are 

 females, judging at least from the roe." 



Yarrell, vol. i., first edition, p. 10, in describing the 

 smooth serranus, one of the marine family of perches, 

 says : " One peculiarity of the serrani must not be passed 

 over. Cavolini and Cuvier have, after repeated examina- 

 tions, described the smooth serranus and some other 

 species of the genus as true hermaphrodites, one portion 



