LAKES AND RIVERS. 1 29 



CHAPTER VI. 



FRESH-WATER FISHES. 



SCIENTIFIC writers separate Fishes into two compre- 

 hensive divisions, Osseous and Cartilaginous. The 

 skeleton of osseous fishes, as the name indicates, is 

 bony and hard ; in cartilaginous fishes there is no hard 

 bone. The backbone, so called, is gristle, and if 

 boiled becomes gelatinous. Osseous fishes consist of 

 soft-finned and hard-fmned. Order i is the Acantho- 

 pterygii, or Spinous-finned fishes. 



THE PERCH. 



The Perch family, or Perdda, comes first in this 

 class. Only ten or eleven species are found in Britain, 

 although Cuvier in his classification of the fishes of 

 the world enumerates 500 species of the Perch family. 

 The body is oblong, and covered with hard scales, 

 K 



